Lux-Umbra Magna Auguratricis
by Exotos135
Summary: Royal Woods is changed forever when monsters called "Shadows" attack the city, and with the help of a creature known as "Gemini," the Loud Sisters become magical girls to combat the threat.
1. Episode I: Transformation

**Hello everybody, Merry Christmas! You thought I wasn't going to post anything other than a little one-shot for this season? You wish, instead, here's a little AU-because I'm all for that stuff-based on the Loud House-because I'm all for that stuff too XD-named Lux-Umbra Magna Auguratricis!**

 **The name's supposed to be Latin for Light-Dark Loud Magicians.**

 **I got the idea over at the Loud House discord, and I simply had to write it one way or another. So, I guess you could consider this my Christmas gift for the discord. XD**

 **And yes, this was inspired by Puella Magi Madoka Magica, a magical girl show... that's literally all I can say without spoiling it. Though, it's been around for so long, I'm suprised it can still be spoiled. XD**

 **Will I expand upon this idea? Probably not, I got too much work to do, but hey, tell me what you think and I'll think about it.**

 **But nevermind, let's get going! :)**

* * *

 _ **My name is Lily Loud. I'm one of the ten daughters of the infamous Loud House. I'm best known for being the literal baby of the house, but, like my other sisters, I've also become well-known for a peculiar reason:**_

 _ **I'm a magical girl. A "Lux Auguratricis" to be exact. Or "Lux Aura" for short, if you want.**_

 _ **It all started with a meeting...**_

* * *

 _Lily woke up, or at least thought she woke up, and found herself in a blank void, devoid of any significant feature._

 _"Where am I?" she asked telepathically, as she couldn't speak. "What is this place?"_

 _"Ah, looks like you're awake."_

 _The baby flinched and turned around as a creature came into view, saying:_

 _"Don't fear us, we won't hurt you."_

 _And eventually, the creature's full form was revealed to the baby: They had a white body with green rings around their stomach, green tips on their paws and nose, and orange eyes that looked straight into the baby's very being._

 _The most interesting feature about them, however, were its ears, or the closest thing it had to ears: They looked like a pair of scales in perfect balance, both colored grey, except for the tips: White for the left, black for the right._

 _"Our name is Geminus Divisus," the creature answered with a double voice, though they were so similar, it sounded more like echo. "But, since that name might be a hassle to say, you can just call us Gemini."_

 _"Well, nice to meet you, Gemini..." Lily greeted back, slightly perplexed. "Can you, uh, explain to me what happened?"_

 _"Simply put, Royal Woods is about to change irrevocably forever, both for good, and for worse," Gemini answered with a concerned tone. "And we want to know if you could make us a promise."_

 _"Um... sure... I guess?" the girl looked around "What do you want me to promise?"_

 _"Right now, we're inside your mind: A mental plane where anything can happen, as long as you desire it," Gemini took a look around. "However, nothing inside this world is real, it's all imaginary. So, what we want to ask out of you is impossible, as we're nothing more than a fragment of your mind right now."_

 _The girl tilted her head. "O... kay?"_

 _"But don't get us wrong, we do exist," Gemini clarified. "And once we appear to you in the real world, we simply ask that you form a bond with us."_

 _The creature's eyes shined. "A magical bond!"_

 _"Magical bond?" Lily tilted her head. "What are you talking about?"_

 _"It's simple: We'll give you magical powers, transformation included, absurdly long transformation time optional, and in exchange, we simply ask that you keep the world safe from the incoming threats that will signal the change of the world," Gemini explained, lowering their head as they continued. "These beasts are known as shadows, and if they were to gain control over people's bodies... then untold destruction could come to the world."_

 _The creature looked back up to a concerned Lily and asked, "So, can you promise us that?"_

 _The girl thought about it, and nodded._

 _"Excellent," Gemini smiled. "Now, we'll let you wake up in peace. Oh, and one last thing: As soon as you make the bond, don't ask questions, and just act!"_

 _The creature walked away, and seconds later, Lily began waking up..._

* * *

 _ **After that, I woke up, and found out that not only were Lincoln and Lisa missing, but they were nowhere around the house. My sisters searched for them the whole day, but they had no luck finding them.**_

 _ **So, they continued searching for a couple days, until eventually, the thing Gemini spoke about attacked...**_

 _ **A shadow.**_

* * *

People ran away in a panic as a large, shadowy figure wrecked the streets, with the Loud sisters and parents being among the ones to witness the destruction. Lily was being carried in Rita's arms, with the woman covering her eyes as she and the rest of the family tried to run away.

But as they ran, Lily suddenly heard somebody telepathically talking with her:

" _Lily! Can you hear us?!_ "

The baby raised an eyebrow as her family stopped, and her eyes were uncovered, allowing her to see the family stopped because of Gemini being right in front of them, staring at the baby as they telepathically told her:

" _The time has come, Lily! You remember our promise, right?! It's time to do it now!_ "

"What the heck is that thing?!" Lynn Sr. asked.

"I don't know, but they're cute!" Lola remarked. "Can we adopt them?!"

Lily narrowed her eyes with determination and jumped off her Mom's grasp, allowing her to essentially high-five with Gemini, causing them to be enveloped in a white aura as Lily transformed and the family covered their eyes from the shine.

First, Lily's body grew from a baby into a young girl, at around Lincoln's age. Her hair went from a tiny bit at the top, to straight and reaching her shoulder, along with two ponytails held by purple scrunchies.

Along with her body growing, her clothes also changed: Instead of a diaper, she wore a lavender, sleeveless bodysuit, with matching opera gloves and skirt in a lighter color.

Finally, the girl materialized a large mace with a circular head, looking like a buffed up version of one of her toys.

And, like she promised Gemini, Lily asked no questions and jumped straight into the battlefield, while Gemini telepathically told the rest of the family:

"We _know you have a lot of questions, but right now, you just need to know this: If you want your daughter to survive the encounter with that thing, form a bond with us, and become Lux Users Magicae!_ "

The sisters and parents exchanged looks, not sure what to say in response, as Lily's fight with the shadow began.

She first swung her mace against the shadow's massive body, with each blow causing it to react, though the shadow's seemingly immaterial, regenerating body made it hard to know whether it reacted due to pain or surprise.

And then, it was the shadow's turn:

"Buy mY mErchandise,"

The shadow's arm morphed into a grotesque fusion of several shelves before they slammed it down at the girl, then smacking her with it hard enough to send her flying into a building.

And besides some bruises, Lily was perfectly fine as the shadow said:

"Sales After NighttIme promoTion! oh mY yeah!"

The shadow aimed its shelve-arms at the building and shot them like a projectile, with Lily narrowly dodging it and spinning around as she slammed her mace down the shadow's head, making it explode... but it could still talk:

"My mOtivatioNal spEech's Yet to start!"

As Lily wondered how could this be, the shadow morphed it's head into a fist, and spoke again:

"AND Let's brIng and reFrain expEnses!"

The shadow slammed Lily down the ground, released her, and got ready to pummel her down... until a flash of purple light dashed across the spot where Lily used to be.

The shadow's fist-head morphed back to normal and turned to look at the source of the light: Who was none other than Luna, sporting a similar outfit as Lily, only in purple.

And then, some more lights flashed across the area, each striking at the shadow as their forms were soon revealed: They were the remaining Loud sisters, each wearing the same uniform as Lily as well.

Yes, even the tomboys had skirts.

At least they had their own weapons: Leni a pair of needles, Lori a spear, Lynn a pair of gauntlets, Luan a pie, Lucy a scythe, Lola a whip, and Lana a pair of claws.

"Luna?" Lily asked, before she looked at the rest of the Loud sisters. "You guys made a magical bond too?"

"Yeah, the creature told us that if we didn't, you could get hurt, or worse," Luna answered as she put the girl down and brushed her hair. "We'll take it from here."

And with that said, Luna summoned her weapon-an axe-and jumped right into the battlefield, leaving Lily to watch the battle as Gemini appeared right next to her.

"Oh, Gemini!" Lily remarked as she noticed the creature.

" _Hello, Lily,_ " Gemini spoke as they focused on the battle. " _It looks like everything is going fine, right?_ "

"Yeah..." Lily turned back to the fight. "I guess..."

The duo saw the fight go on for a while, watching the Loud sisters take care of the shadow as a question popped in Lily's mind:

" _Of all people he could bond with, why did he choose my family? And why bond with me first?_ "

And much to her surprise, she asked that out loud, judging by Gemini looking at her and responding:

" _Because your family, and you in particular, Lily, hold a great potential to be heroes. And truth be told, everybody has the potential to be heroes, but your potential... well, it's hard to explain, but it's definitely interesting._ "

Lily smiled and blushed. "Thanks, Gemini."

The creature walked up to Lily's side and rubbed their head against her side as they said, " _No problem, Lily._ "

And then, the duo heard an explosion, prompting them to look forward and witness the shadow's defeat. The smoke cloud dissipated as the sisters landed on the ground, Lily and Gemini joined them, and the Loud parents appeared soon after.

"Mom! Dad!" Lily exclaimed as the parents reached them. "Why didn't you join the others in the fight?"

" _We're afraid the magical bonding schtik only works on teenagers and kids,_ " Gemini explained, shaking their head. " _Trying to bond with adults can cause... unexpected side-effects._ "

"And besides, we were requested to stay at the sidelines, just in case something happened," Lynn Sr. added. "Trust us, we would've joined you if we could."

"Nah, it's okay," Lori answered as she lowered her spear. "After all, seven or six of us were literally more than enough to take care of that thing."

And speaking of the shadow, the smoke cloud from the explosion dissipated completely, revealing Flip, who ran away shortly afterwards, and a small black cube.

"Flip was the shadow all along!" Leni exclaimed as the Loud family and Gemini walked closer to the black cube. "Honestly, I'm, like, not surprised."

Lucy tilted her head and moved closer to the black cube. "What's that thing?"

" _Stay away! It's a square of darkness: The very source of power for the shadows!_ " Gemini exclaimed as they ran up to the cube. " _If a square of darkness comes into contact with someone who's made a magical bond before, it can transform them into a shadow!_ "

Hearing that, the family backed away as Gemini promptly disposed of the black cube... by eating it. And as they ate it, they turned to the surprised family and said:

" _Now... we need to ask for your services... in keeping Royal Woods safe from the shadows. You won't fight alone, of course, you will have help from Lux Auguratrices, or Lux Auras, from all over the city. The only thing we ask in response..._ "

Gemini swallowed the cube before they finished:

" _Is to protect the city from the shadows._ "

* * *

 _ **Of course, our parents were against the idea. And who could blame them?**_

 _ **No powers, a sudden threat from massive monsters, and the only people who can defeat them are your daughters? Anybody would have a problem with that!**_

 _ **But once Gemini explained the whole deal to them, how we wouldn't be the only ones to protect the city, and how they could help from the sidelines, they decided to agree to the idea.**_

 _ **And from that day forward, me and my sisters work as the defenders of Royal Woods from the shadows, while also working on our most important goal: Find out what happened to Lincoln and Lisa, and put an end to the shadow threat once and for all.**_

* * *

The next day, the baby was carried by Luan as she and Luna looked at the city on the balcony, their hair blowing in the wind as they saw a pitch black dome materializing at the city square.

"Are you ready for this, dude?" Luna asked, throwing a curious look at Luan.

"You bet I am!" Luan giggled and turned to Lily. "You ready for this, Lily?"

The baby smiled and nodded. And then, the girls looked at some white cubes on their person: Luan had it as a hair accessory, Luna had one as an earring, and Lily had hers on her sucker.

The girls took off and threw the cubes in the air, which broke and showered the girls in a white light, transforming them into their Lux Aura forms.

And in Lily's case, her grown-up form as well.

The girls then summoned their weapons, and sprung towards the dark dome, ready to take on whatever shadow was going to spring out of there.


	2. Episode I: Training

**Hi everybody, Exotos135 here, bringing you the next chapter of Lux-Umbra Magna Auguratricis, or as I think everybody will call it, The Loud House: Magical Girl edition!**

 **And I know what you're thinking: Exotos, are you seriously putting out another on-going story? Won't you just grow bored of it and cancel it before it reaches its conclusion?**

 **Well, joke's on you, I actually have a lot of interest in continuing this story. So, even if it takes a while, I will see this story to its conclusion.**

 **And I hope you guys enjoy the ride.**

 **But first, let's answer some reviews:**

 **1) SolarFlare579: We're continuing now! :)**

 **And now, to the chapter!**

* * *

The next day, Lily woke up back on her crib, the sunlight filtering through her room as the baby looked at her surroundings, her blurry vision slowly clearing up as she did...

" _Good morning, sleeping beauty._ "

The baby snapped to the source of the voice, who turned out to be Gemini, standing on top of Lisa's desk.

" _Apologies, we forgot we shouldn't talk to someone who just woke up,_ " Gemini said as they jumped onto the baby's crib, and rested right next to her. " _And don't worry, we're not here to bring bad news. We just wanted to see how you were doing._ "

Lily petted the creature with a smile as the next person to wake up was Luna and Luan, who shared Lisa's bed.

"Good morning, Lily," Luna said as she got off the bed and walked to the crib. "Oh hey! Gemini's here!"

" _We're astounded we didn't see you when we entered the room,_ " Gemini remarked as they stood up. " _But anyway, what are you doing here?_ "

"Well, since we were given the task of mentoring Lily, we need to keep an eye out for her," Luan answered as she got up and stretched. "And what better way to do that than to sleep in her room?"

" _But you all started your Lux Aura jobs at the exact same time, how can you claim the role of a mentor?_ " Gemini inquired, tilting their head. " _And besides, as you were all bonded with full knowledge of what you can do, a mentor sounds fairly arbitrary._ "

"Hey, Mom and Dad were the ones who decided that, not us," Luna replied, folding her arms. "If you have a problem with it, you'll have to talk to them."

" _We don't, we just find it unnecessary,_ " Gemini shook their head and jumped off the crib. " _Anyhow, we're glad you woke up well. We're gonna go see if the other siblings have woken up._ "

The creature promptly ran out of the room and went to the other bedrooms, leaving Luna and Luan alone with the baby.

"You know, I've noticed something weird about Gemini," Luna remarked, getting both Luan and Lily's attention. "Instead of using the normal male or female pronouns, they always use plural pronouns. "We," "us," stuff like that. Isn't that weird?"

"Well, you got to think outside the box, Luna," Luan pointed at her head, and then scratched her chin as she suggested, "Maybe Gemini's actually a hive mind that doesn't comprehend the concept of individuality, and thus they can't help but always use plural pronouns when talking about themselves!"

Luna hummed and looked at the ceiling. "I guess that's a possible explanation."

"Anyway, I'm going to go see if breakfast is ready," Luan said as she left the room. "Seeing as Lincoln's not here, and Dad's not allowed to cook, I wonder what Mom prepared for breakfast."

And with that, Luna and Lily were left alone, allowing the rocker to lean on Lily's baby crib and ask:

"Are you ready for another day as a Lux Aura, Lily?"

The baby giggled and clapped as Luna grabbed her and lifted her.

"That's the spirit!" Luna chirped as she carried the baby on her arms. "Now, let's go eat breakfast."

Lily nodded, and the duo left the room.

 ** _One breakfast later..._**

The Loud sisters had gathered at the living room, with Gemini standing front of the rather lively sight.

" _Now, there's an important topic to discuss today,_ " Gemini said, getting the sisters' attention. " _That topic is, the teams you're going to work in from now on._ "

"Teams?" Leni repeated, earning a nod from the creature. "You mean, we're not, like, going to bombard the Shadows with all of us at once?"

" _Attacking all at once would be detrimental: Not only would the shadow have a better chance, but it also leaves other shadows unchecked,_ " Gemini explained. " _As Lux Auras, your goal is to eradicate as many shadows as possible, so their cubes of darkness can be extracted. Clearly ganging up on a single one wouldn't be productive._ "

"Okay, but how do we split up?" Lynn inquired. "We're eight in total, counting Lily, but I don't think four pairs is going to be enough."

The creature hummed. " _Well, it could be two teams of four. How does that sound?_ "

Most of the sisters nodded in agreement, except for Lori, who raised an eyebrow. "Will two teams literally be enough?"

"Yeah, maybe three teams would, like, be a little better," Leni hummed, then got an idea. "Hey, Gemini, do you think you could join one of the teams?"

" _Unfortunately, our powers and abilities are limited to Lux Aura creation, and absorption of Cubes of Darkness, with little physical combat capability,_ " Gemini sadly answered, slightly perking up as they added, " _However, if you so wish, we'll go along with one team as the third member, and make it three teams of three. Is that what you wish?_ "

The sisters nodded in unison.

" _Alright then, if that's all, then we believe it's time to head to the next point in this discussion,_ " Gemini said. " _And that is... the training matches._ "

The sisters smiled with confidence, and next thing they knew, they were at a mechanical arena, with the words "Lisa Loud TM" written around all over the place.

Lily threw her cube in the air, it showered her in light, and she transformed, skipping the transformation sequence, as so did the other sisters.

" _Okay, this is how we'll do this training,_ " Gemini spoke as they looked at the pairs. " _Now, the person in front of you will be your opponent. This should come as no surprise, but the point of this training is for you to gain more experience in combat. And no matter what, don't kill or severely injure your enemy. You're gonna be needed for something after this._ "

The sisters nodded in agreement and turned back to see the person in front of them: In Lily's case, she saw Luna.

"Well, looks like I'll be our opponent, Lily," Luna stated as she tightened her grip on her axe. "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you-"

Next thing the rockstar knew, Lily appeared right in front of her, ready to swing her mace. Luckily, Luna managed to block the incoming hit as Lily answered:

"I can't say I'll do the same for you!"

Luna smiled with a determined look. "Alright then, guess I'll go all out as well!"

Luna pushed Lily away, and the lavender Lux Aura jumped up tried to smash her mace down Luna's face again, with the purple Lux Aura dodging at the last moment and swinging her axe by the sides, sending Lily flying away, with spinning included.

Luckily, Lily quickly regained her composure, slammed her mace down to ricochet herself onto the wall, and then jumped straight for Luna, who sidestepped the incoming attack.

Lily's mace's strike left a large crater in the ground, and got the weapon stuck for a bit, allowing Luna to kick Lily right in the stomach. However, with her mace's handle proving to be elastic, Lily simply reeled back, then used the elastic handle to headbutt Luna, sending her flying into a wall.

"Hehehe, nice shot, Lily!" the rocker said as she jumped off the wall. "But don't think this is over yet!"

Lily took off her mace and pounded it with a grin on her face.

"Of course! This is far from over!"

And while the fight continued, Gemini watched the fights with an intent look, checking around the arena as if to try keep up with the fights going on.

" _Gemini, are you there?_ "

" _Oh hey, Mr. and Mrs. Loud!_ " the creature said, tilting their head. " _How are you doing in your part as the mission control?_ "

 ** _Lisa's Forgotten Laboratory..._**

In the underground laboratory that used to belong to Lisa, Mr. and Mrs. Loud sat down and watched some monitors: Mr. Loud watched the monitors that checked the number and information of currently active shadows, while Mrs. Loud watched the monitors that checked the number and information of currently active auras.

"We're doing pretty well, all things considered," Lynn Sr. answered, taking a sip of his coffee. "So far, no new shadows have become active."

"No update on the auras either, they're all ready to spring into action if the need arises," Mrs. Loud added, scratching her chin as she looked at the number of auras. "And speaking about that, I just noticed the number seems to be over a dozen. What exactly were you doing before you met our daughters?"

" _Testing our powers, making sure there were other auras in case the Louds weren't available, you know, magical critter things,_ " Gemini casually answered. " _Anyway, we'll continue keeping an eye on the girls' training, call us up if anything happens._ "

The parents nodded, and promptly went back to their monitors, leaving Gemini alone to continue watching the progress on the training battles, which were starting to wrap up, surprisingly enough.

Lily and Luna clashed their weapons and struggled to gain the upper hand over the other, until Luna gathered enough strength to throw Lily off-balance. However, the younger girl quickly regained her composure and swung her mace repeatedly at Luna, forcing her to block the incoming attacks until she hit the floor and sent herself flying up.

Luna smiled with confidence at the sight, and watched as Lily tried to dive kick straight to her face, screaming included.

However, Luna blocked the kick with her axe, and instead got on the receiving end from a swing of Lily's mace, sending her crashing into a wall once again.

And next thing the rockstar knew, Lily stood in front of her, aiming her mace at her with a smile.

"Alright, Lily, I got it," Luna chuckled with a smile. "I forfeit; You win."

Lily smiled with satisfaction, and once everybody's training match was over, they returned to the backyard and took a deep breath, with Gemini looking at them in case there were any injuries.

" _And that will do for today's training sessions,_ " Gemini said as the girls caught their breath. " _We hope you all learned very important lessons from these combats._ "

"Well, I learned Lily's pretty sick with a mace," Luna answered, with the baby throwing a wink at her as she chuckled. "Does that count?"

Gemini sighed, again without opening their mouth. " _Well, we guess it can count if you want._ "

And then everybody received a call from Mr. Loud:

"Girls, there's some kind of anomaly rising in the city square! You have to go deal with it immediately!"

"You heard Dad, everybody!" Lori gripped her spear and aimed it forward. "Let's get to work!"

"Wait, before we go, maybe we should have a catchphrase for when we're heading to a mission?" Leni suggested, getting everybody's attention. "I mean, like, "let's get to work!" is such a generic phrase, we need something better!"

"Is now really the time to be discussing this?" Lori asked, lowering her spear. "We can literally save this for later and focus on the task at hand, right?"

"I know, how about something like, "It's showtime!" Luan suggested as she swung her rubber chicken. "That'll certainly get the shadows' attention!"

"Maybe, but we need something that can strike fear into their hearts," Lucy said. "Something like, "Prepare to return to the void where you came from!"

"I don't think the shadows are sentient enough to know what fear is," Luna remarked. "Anyway, we're the Louds, right? Let's do something with that, like, "Let's bring the noise!"

"Ooh, I like that one!" Leni chirped. "Let's go with that one!"

"As long as it gets us to the city square faster," Lily shrugged, then exclaimed, "Lux Auras, let's bring the noise!"

The sisters shouted "yeah!" in unison, and headed forth towards the city square, ready to take on whatever challenge awaited them.

 ** _Royal Woods City Square..._**

Once they arrived, the sisters got a little surprise: There were no shadows to speak of, but instead, the city square had strange pitch black cubes floating around, emanating a purple, ominous aura.

"Okay, here we are, but where are the shadows?" Lola asked as she took a look around. "All I see are these weird shadow things all over the place."

" _Those things, our dear girls, is your objective,_ " Gemini said.

"Wait, I thought we were going to fight shadows?" Luna inquired.

" _You don't just fight shadows, girls,_ " Gemini explained as they jumped off Lily's shoulder. " _Part of your job is also making sure the shadows don't appear, if possible. And that involves destroying these things right here._ "

"Well, okay," Lana scratched her head. "But what the heck are those anyway?"

" _Cores of Darkness, more specifically, Antumbra Cores,_ " Gemini bluntly answered as they looked at the cores, then turned back to the girls. " _Think like the Cubes of Darkness, except that instead of representing the shadow after death, they represent the shadow before its even born. And if it's not destroyed before a certain amount of time passes, it will grow into a Penumbra Core, which will gain a physical form, and eventually into an Umbra Core, which will immediately hatch into a shadow._ "

"Huh, never thought shadows would work like chickens, but okay," Lynn pounded her gauntlets. "Let's smash these eggs before they hatch!"

The sisters shouted a collective "Yeah!" and started attacking the cores of darkness. Lynn pounded them until they shattered, Lana, Lucy, and Luna slashed them to bits, Lola squeezed them until they popped, and so on and so forth.

Gemini, for their part, watched the girls destroy the cores with an approving look, at least until Lynn Sr. called him:

"Gemini, heads up! There's a Lux Aura heading to your location right now!"

" _That's weird,_ " the creature tilted their head. " _Didn't we tell you not to tell any auras to come here until one of the cores started evolving?_ "

"The aura's coming over there on her own!" Rita clarified. "It's almost like she found out there were cores without being told they were!"

" _If that's the case, then maybe she's patrolling the city?_ " Gemini pondered to themselves. " _No, that can't be right; The girls haven't taken patrol training yet, and it's a bit too early for that as well..._ "

As the creature wondered why there would be a Lux Aura heading to their location, an arrow came down and struck the ground next to them, before letting out a large explosion that sent the entity flying, catching the attention of the sisters as they stopped destroying the cores and went to see if they were okay.

"Gemini!" Lily exclaimed as the creature landed on her arms. "Are you okay?!"

" _Dang it, we totally forgot to keep an eye on our environment,_ " Gemini answered as they caught their breath. " _However, those explosive arrows... we may know who shot them..._ "

Gemini realized something and opened their eyes in a panic. " _Loud Auras! You have to evacuate this instant!_ "

"Ooh, Loud Auras?!" Leni repeated, clapping in delight as she added. "That's, like, the best team name ever! We should totes make it official!"

"And what do you mean evacuate, dude?" Luna asked, putting a hand on her hip. "We haven't even finished destroying all the cores yet-!"

Another arrow landed on the ground next to the sisters, and it blinked twice before it exploded, with the girls jumping away before the explosion sent them flying.

"Where are those arrows coming from?!" Lynn asked as she and the sisters landed on the ground.

"Well, their irregular explosion attribute should make it clear they're no ordinary weapon!" Lori stated as she tightened her grip on her spear. "Only a Lux Aura would literally have access to such a thing!"

And almost as if on cue, the one responsible for the explosive arrows appeared into view. And they were, indeed, another Lux Aura.

But not just any Lux Aura, but Girl Jordan, sporting the same outfit as the sisters, but hot pink. She held a bow on her arms, and behind her were the explosive arrows.

"So you're the one who shot those explosive arrows, huh?!" Lily snapped at the girl. "What do you think you're doing?!"

" _Oh, yeah, we forgot to mention: Not all of the Lux Auras that are made like us,_ " Gemini said as they stood up. " _Some of them don't like, or outright despise us. And Girl Jordan's one of them._ "

"And seeing this little ragtag group of weirdos reminds me why," Girl Jordan sternly said. "I mean, it's already bad enough that you trick little girls into risking their lives by facing abominations like the shadows, but now you went and converted an entire family?!"

"Technically, he only "converted" most of us," Lucy answered, with the sisters nodding in agreement as she explained, "Our parents were out of the deal, and Lisa and Lincoln are missing."

"Oh right, your brother and sister's still missing, huh?" Girl Jordan raised a concerned eyebrow. "How's your search for them going?"

"Everything at it's due time, Girl Jordan," Lori answered, seemingly getting on the girl's nerves. "Right now, we literally need to destroy these cores of darkness!"

Suddenly, an arrow was shot right next to Lori's face, striking her hair while leaving her skin untouched. The arrow, of course, was shot by Girl Jordan, who kept her bow steadily aimed at the sisters as she snapped:

"Listen up, Loudhorns! The instant Lisa and Lincoln went missing, that little abomination you got there came into the picture, and shortly after them, the shadows started emerging as well!"

" _Well, geez, we know you don't like us, but you don't have call us an abomination,_ " Gemini remarked. " _And besides, you had no issue bonding with us to become a Lux Aura._ "

"That was before I put two and two together, and realized that you're somehow to blame for both the disappearence of Lincoln and his sister, and all the shadows that have been popping up!" Girl Jordan prepared to shoot another arrow. "Now tell me, what the heck did you do!?"

" _We turned you and a bunch of other girls into Lux Auras to deal with the threats of the shadows,_ " Gemini casually answered. " _Honestly, we thought that would be obvious-_ "

Angry at the answer, Girl Jordan shot an arrow, which was deflected by Lily's mace, forcing Girl Jordan to dodge and watch as it destroyed the core right behind her as she landed on top of a building.

"Do you really think you can get away from me, you... weasel-ferret-thing?!" Girl Jordan prepared to throw another arrow. "You may have given me this power, but that doesn't mean I can't use it to get rid of you!"

Lily put Gemini on the ground and raised her mace as she stated:

"Not if I have something to say about it!"

Shocked at this statement, Girl Jordan lowered her bow and sternly looked at Lily, who stood her ground while returning the glare at Girl Jordan.

" _W-Wait! We gave you powers in order to deal with the shadows and anything related to them, but we never thought you'd face off against another Lux Aura!_ " Gemini desperately told the girl as she tightened her grip on her mace. " _There's no guarantee your powers will have the same effect as with the shadows!_ "

"That doesn't matter!" Lily stated as she got ready to swing her mace. "She tried to hurt you, Gemini, and I'm not going to let her get away with that!"

The creature tilted their head. " _You'd risk your life, just because someone tried to hurt us?_ "

"Well, I don't know how to say this, Gemini," Lily said, slightly lowering her mace. "But, for some reason, I feel..."

The aged up toddler beamed a smile at the creature.

"Like I'm protecting someone dear to me!"

Gemini stared at Lily, with the joy behind its frozen smile being evident. " _Lily..._ "

The creature nodded, and it and the rest of the sisters ran off to deal with any other cores of darkness, leaving Lily to face off against Girl Jordan.

The battle began when Girl Jordan aimed her bow at Lily and shot an arrow at her, which the magical girl getting enough time to jump and dodge the arrow, only for the ensuing explosion to send her flying forward.

Luckily however, she regained her composure and smacked her mace on the ground to send her flying straight for Girl Jordan, who smirked and prepared to shoot something at the girl. And Lily, believing it was another arrow, got ready to smack it back.

Once Girl Jordan shot and Lily swung her mace, however, the object blew up into a cloud of smoke, blocking Lily's vision.

"Wait, what the heck was that?!" Lily exclaimed as she hit the rooftop and rolled for a bit. "A smoke arrow?! Are those even a thing?!"

"Of course not, you fool, I shot a smoke bomb at you!" Girl Jordan said as Lily stood up and dusted herself. "I may have just started a couple weeks ago, but I still know better than to stay with the basics for too long!"

Lily lifted her mace and took a look around for any signs of Girl Jordan's incoming attack, which she got when she saw the girl's eyes flash pink for a moment. So Lily tightly held her mace and swung it just as she shot another arrow, deflecting it back at her.

The ensuing explosion cleared the smoke from the smoke bomb, but Lily had little time to relax as Girl Jordan promptly shot a couple arrows at the sky, forcing Lily to look at them as she prepared to hit them back.

However, Girl Jordan took the chance and tackled the girl before she kneed her in the gut and kicked her to the ground, giving the arrows just enough time to hit her and explode, sending her flying away.

Girl Jordan shot even more arrows at Lily's direction, but the girl quickly recovered and landed on the walls of a building... before she promptly fell before the arrows hit the spot and exploded.

Lily landed safely on the ground, however, and Girl Jordan quickly tried to take advantage of the situation and shot another barrage of arrows at the sky.

"Is shooting stuff all you do?!" Lily taunted before she pulled her eyelid down and stuck out her tongue.

"I'm a ranged fighter, you jerk!" Girl Jordan snapped before she aimed at the arrows, "But no matter, this next trick will shut you up!"

Girl Jordan shot some arrows at the arrows in the sky, causing a large explosion... and from the explosion rained down several dozen more arrows, forcing Lily to run as fast as she could before they hit the ground and exploded, sending the girl flying off to Girl Jordan, who jumped off the building and swung her bow at Lily.

Naturally, it didn't do much at all.

"Is that all you got?" Lily asked with disappointment. "Let me show you how you swing it!"

Lily slammed Girl Jordan with her mace, sending her crashing off into a building, where the girl slid down as Lily ran and jumped, ready to deliver the final blow.

Girl Jordan shot an arrow at her and stood up as Lily was sent flying by the explosion.

"You know what?"

Girl Jordan reached for her back and took out a blue arrow as she jumped back to a rooftop.

"You know what!?"

The girl shot the blue arrow at the ground, causing it to freeze on a large radius, large enough to also freeze the spot Lily was on in fact. And with this, Girl Jordan shot several arrows at the sky repeatedly.

"I'm through playing games with you!"

Girl Jordan did the same trick as before and shot arrows at the arrows, resulting in a a large explosion. However, instead of over a dozen arrows being created, about a hundred were made, just enough to literally rain down on Lily's parade.

Nevertheless, the girl gripped her weapon and stood her ground, ready to face the literal rain of arrows that was heading for her...

 ** _Meanwhile, with the Sisters..._**

Lori threw her spear and pierced one of the cores of darkness, causing it to explode shortly afterwards as the sisters reunited and looked around the place, spotting no other cores nearby.

Not wanting to leave any cores behind, though, Gemini telepathically called the parents. " _Lynn. Sr! Rita! Do you see any other cores?!_ "

"Negative! All cores of darkness have been neutralized!" Rita answered.

"Well, that's a relief," Lori said. "Now that there are no more cores, we can literally help Lily-"

Before Lori could even finish, Luan and Luna jumped away and headed straight for the fight between Lily and Girl Jordan, leaving the rest of the team behind.

"Well, they're the closest to Lily," Lori remarked, shaking her head. "I did see them literally running to Lily's aid as soon as they got an opening."

 ** _Back with Lily..._**

The girl jumped out of an explosion and stopped herself before she clashed with another arrow. She then jumped again and again, leaping out of explosions whenever necessary, while Girl Jordan checked her remaining arrows.

She had about a dozen of them left.

" _Dang it, I wasted too much ammo in the earlier parts of this fight!_ " the girl thought as she looked at what types of arrows she had left. " _I need to incapacitate her somehow, or else I'll run out of arrows and be forced to retreat!_ "

Then, the girl found a peculiar type of arrow and smiled, getting an idea as she jumped down just as Lily jumped out of another explosion, and took aim.

She shot the arrow just as Lily hit the ground, and the arrow hit the girl in the shoulder. However, rather than explode, the arrow transformed into a long rope with two balls at the end, which spun around and tied up the girl.

"You made me waste a lot of ammo, you know? So much, in fact, I may just have to forget about my hunt for the creature Gemini," Girl Jordan said as she walked towards the tied girl and aimed at her head. "But, at the very least, I'll go home, knowing that I defeated another magical girl on my first try."

"W-What are you planning?!" Lily exclaimed. "If it's one of those explosive arrows, then no matter how strong a magical girl is, I'm pretty sure getting one of those right in the face would kill me!"

"I know that! This is a memory-erasure arrow!" Girl Jordan revealed with a stern tone. "I'm going to hit you with it so you forget you ever met that creature!"

"But, wait, what would that solve?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'd just be reminded of it by my family moments later, right? Honestly, it seems like a waste of time."

"Fine then, I'll just use it to make you forget you ever faced me!" Girl Jordan readjusted the arrow to erase only that memory. "So next time you see a magical girl, you'll have no idea what to do-"

Suddenly, rubber chicken!

"What the-"

Suddenly, Luan kick to Girl Jordan's face!

"Take that, you wrench!" Luan exclaimed as Luna ran to Lily's side an untied her.

"It took a little longer for us to get rid of the cores of darkness," Luna said as she helped the girl stand up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, especially now that you're here," Lily answered.

Luna smiled, then turned to Girl Jordan and glared at her as the rest of the Loud sisters arrived, making it rather clear Girl Jordan was outnumbered.

"Alright, girl, you got two options now," Lily said with confidence. "Face us and lose, or go away!"

"...I had a feeling I would have to retreat, anyway," Girl jordan folded her arms. "But mark my words, Loud sisters: The creature you're working for is responsible for Lincoln and Lisa's disappearence, and I'm going to make them pay for it!"

"Yeah, while you're at it, how about you go look for clues and proof of your claim?" Luan sneered. "Maybe then, we'll actually take you seriously!"

"Oh, trust me, evidence will pop up eventually," Girl Jordan took out a winged arrow and aimed it at her feet. "Until then, just hope you don't get absorbed by those cores!"

Girl Jordan shot her boots, and they gained wings, allowing her to fly away as the Loud sisters watched her leave.

"Don't get absorbed by the cores of darkness?" Leni repeated, scratching her chin. "Is that, like, something that can actually happen?"

"We can leave that thought for later," Lori answered as she dematerialized her spear. "For now, let's go home."

The team nodded, and they all jumped back home, except for Lily, who turned to look at Gemini watching the spot where Girl Jordan left.

"Gemini, is something the matter?" Lily asked.

The creature returned to reality, shook their head, and turned to Lily:

" _It's nothing, let's go._ "

The creature jumped on Lily's shoulder, and after the girl looked at it with sympathy, she jumped back home.

 ** _Back at the Loud House..._**

The sisters, now back to their normal forms, took the chance to rest on the couch, with Gemini standing on the table and looking at them.

" _We want to apologize for what happened at the city square today,_ " Gemini said as they lowered their head. " _It was meant to be a simple training, but we forgot to warn you about a potential threat in fellow Lux Auras._ "

"Yeah, now that you mention it, wasn't it weird that girl just so happened to strike Gemini while we were at the city square?" Lynn asked, scratching her chin and looking at the ceiling as she thought about it. "Do you think she was trying to deal with the cores of darkness when we arrived?"

"No, that's not what happened."

The sisters and creature turned around and saw the parents walking to them, both sporting concerned looks.

"While we were checking the city square readings, we noticed a Lux Aura signal heading straight to your location," Rita explained. "And what caught us off-guard the most, was the fact that she went there without us telling her about the cores."

"She literally just appeared out of nowhere while you were dealing with the cores!" Lynn Sr. added, with Rita nodding in agreement. "It was really unexpected!"

"So she somehow found out we were dealing with the cores?" Lucy hummed. "She could've found out on her own, but still, we should keep an eye on that girl, whenever we see her again."

Leni then turned to the parents, who still looked concerned, and so she asked, "Is something, like, the matter?"

"The plan was for you to go do a night patrol across the city, as another part of your Lux Aura training," Lynn Sr. twiddled his fingers. "But, after what happened, I'm not so sure it's such a good idea anymore-"

"Mom, Dad, don't be ridiculous."

The adults turned and looked at the one who said that, Lori, who continued:

"Yes, that girl appearing and attacking us was literally unexpected. But Lily managed to hold her own against her, and as soon as Luna, Luan, and the rest of us joined, she had no choice but to retreat."

"Still..." Lynn Sr. scratched the back of his head. "What if you encounter another Lux Aura like that girl?"

"Then we'll beat some sense into her!" Lynn stated proudly. "Don't worry, Mom and Dad, we'll handle ourselves just fine."

The parents exchanged concerned looks, and promptly left, letting their daughters rest some more.

 ** _Later, at Lisa and Lily's bedroom..._**

Luna and Luan were stretching, getting prepared for the night patrol while Lily, who was on her crib, and Gemini, who stood next to the crib, watched them.

" _Are you ready for the patrol?_ " the creature asked.

The girls nodded, and Lily stood up and flailed her arms while uttering some gibberish.

"Lily, you already took a lot of damage today, you're going to stay here while we go patrol," Luan said with a calm tone. "And besides, it's past your bedtime."

Upon hearing that, the baby fell asleep.

" _We'll never understand how that works,_ " Gemini said, shaking their head. " _Anyway, get ready for your night patrol, Luna and Luan Loud._ "

The duo nodded, and promptly ran off to begin their patrol, with Gemini taking a look at the sleeping baby before they followed them.


	3. Episode II: Patrol

**So, after what I assume to be a very freaking long time, here's the next chapter of Lux Umbra Magna Auguratricis. Get used to these hiatuses, if they weren't there, I'd rush this story to heck and back. XD**

 **Anyway, this chapter will mostly deal with the night patrol the sisters go through for the first time. It's not something we'll focus on unless something very important happens, though, so, you can just skim through this if you want.**

 **Because that clearly has never backfired on anybody before. ;)**

 **But first, let's answer a review:**

 **1) ChernoMan:**

 *** Chapter 1:**

 **** How did you know this was based on anime?! Oh right, the story's got "anime-inspired" written all over it XD.**

 **** So, uh, you're related to Girl Jordan, right? She made that connection before, and now you're making the connection.**

 **** Lola getting a Shadow pet?**

 **** It's intentional, in a sense.**

 **** I believe it's an axe.**

 **** Hey, look at the bright side: Gemini won't remind you of a female reproductive system every time you see their face. XD**

 **** You'll see, eventually.**

 *** Chapter 2:**

 **** That's kinda scary in and of itself.**

 **** Did I write that? Where?**

 **** Started as a comedy writer, now does fight scenes that are considered okay. What a weird development cycle.**

 **** No, it really isn't: Most Magical Girl shows I've seen or can think of, even the deconstructive ones like Puella Magi, never really deal, or I think even mention the idea of the girls taking care of the problem before it becomes... well, a problem. They just wait until something happens, then take care of it then.**

 **** Hey, look at the bright side! Not all the savvy ones die early, some instead suffer torment after torment! :)**

 **** I hope I can keep up with that attention, what with the multiple stories going on.**

 **** Well, the original plan was for it to be like a 12 episode anime, split into two halves, so about 25 chapters. Now, I'm not so sure, to be honest.**

 **** I'm happy to hear that.**

 **** Yeah, you could say this chapter puts a little more focus on Luna and Luan than the last few.**

 **And now, to the chapter!**

* * *

The sisters overlooked the streets on top of a rooftop, with Gemini standing right to their side, and their hair blowing in the wind.

"So, what are we supposed to learn during this patrol, Gemini?" Lana asked inquisitively.

" _You'll learn the layout of the city, so that the next time a shadow appears, you know exactly how to get to its location,_ " Gemini explained. " _Also, because these patrols could go on for a while, you'll also learn another one of your passive Lux Aura abilities: The lack of a need to sleep._ "

"That sounds pretty sick, dude," Luna remarked with a curious smile. "But is it passively active all the time, or only when we're Lux Auras?"

The creature remained quiet for a moment, then answered, " _Only when you're Lux Auras._ "

"Dang it!" Luna folded her arms. "And here I thought I could use it to watch Mick Swagger's night concerts!"

"You might want to get your priorities straight, Luna," Lori said, folding her arms at the remark. "We're literally the defenders of Royal Woods now, we can't abuse our powers for our own gain."

"You do have to admit, though, that it would be cool if we were able to use our powers while we weren't Lux Auras," Lynn pointed out. "I mean, just think about all the races I could win with a Lux Aura's super speed!"

"What makes you think a Lux Aura has super speed?" Lana asked.

"Hey, if we're going to defend Royal Woods from monsters such as the shadows, then there's no way we're only getting weapons and stylish outfits!" Lola argued, with Lynn nodding in agreement. "We should get enhanced abilities like super strength or super speed to help us in the fight!"

" _Those abilities can be developed later, but they're not necessary at this moment in time,_ " Gemini answered, getting the sisters' attention. " _Right now, we need to stop waste time and begin the patrol immediately. We'll reunite at the top of the tallest building in the city once we're finished, got it?_ "

The sisters nodded in unison.

" _Then let's go!_ "

The sisters nodded once again and began their patrol across the city, each in a team of two: Luna and Luan, Lori and Leni, Lana and Lola, and Lucy and Lynn. You know, the usual.

As for Gemini? The creature watched the girls begin patroling as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop, following the team of Luna and Luan.

"Alright, so how should we

.

.

.

"Oh hey, another Lux Aura!" Luna remarked, only to remember what happened with Girl Jordan. So she tightened her grip on her weapon and said, "Are you a friend or a foe?"

The redheaded Lux Aura tilted her head. "Are you patroling for any signs of shadows?"

"Um, yeah, dude," Luna answered. "Why else would I be out at night?"

"Then we're friends," the redhead smiled. "My name is Becky."

"And I'm Luna," the rockstar answered as she shook hands with Becky. "It's my first time patroling the sister."

"Well, you're not alone, partner: This is my first patrol too," Becky answered. "In fact, this is the first patrol for quite a lot of Lux Auras. If you keep looking around, you should be able to find some more auras lurking around."

"So there are a lot more Lux Auras in the area?" Luna's enthusiasm slowly turned into concern. "I... I'm not sure how I feel about that, to be honest."

Becky raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, here's a funny story: Earlier this morning, one of my sisters, who's also a Lux Aura by the way, fought with a Lux Aura herself!" Luna explained, scratching the back of her head as she added, "And our parents were very concerned about that, so, we told them that next time it happened, we could deal with them together."

Luna lowered her head and frowned. "But if there are multiple Lux Auras in the area... I'm not sure how well we're going to fare..."

Becky put a hand on Luna's shoulder and stated, with a reassuring tone:

"Negative thoughts like that make it harder for you to give it your all. And besides, you have your sisters to give you support, while most Lux Auras are only children."

Luna's eyes widened. "For real?"

"Yeah," Becky pointed at herself. "I mean, you're looking at a single child yourself!"

Luna smiled and lowered her eyelids. "Thanks for the comfort."

"Hey, it's the least I can do for a fellow Lux Aura," Becky stated as she got ready to continue her patrol. "Especially because the more negative you stay, the more troublesome it'll be to fight shadows."

"Wait, it will?" Luna raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just a theory I have, but since the shadows seem to be manifestations of darkness," Becky shrugged. "Don't you think that negativity in general could attract them?"

Luna thought about that theory as Becky jumped off and continued to patrol around the streets.

 ** _Meanwhile, with Luan..._**

The comedian stopped right in the middle of a street, where, as far as she could see, there were no shadows or cores of darkness in the vicinity.

"Alright, this place is cleared as well," Luan remarked with a proud smile. "Time to continue the patrol."

However, just before she resumed her patroling, Luan noticed a peculiar sight: A lone teenager, sitting on a bench and looking at the sky with a contemplative look.

And no, it wasn't Maggie, or Benny, Luan's crush. No, the teenager in question was Dana, one of Lori's friends.

Unable to avoid feeling concerned for the girl, Luan walked up to her and asked, "Hey, what are you doing out here so late?"

Dana, surprised at Luan noticing her, turned to her and said, "Oh, uh, nothing, it's nothing that you need to worry about."

Luan frowned. "I can see that something is definitely troubling you, girl. And trust me, keeping those feelings bottled up won't help anybody."

"Okay, well... It's just that my friend was chosen to be a Lux Aura over me, that's pretty much it," Dana revealed somberly. "I could explain it to you, but you're probably very busy right now, right?"

"Well, I do have to continue my patrol..." Luan hummed. "Do you think you could give me an abbreviated version of the story instead?"

Dana sighed and explained the abbreviated version:

"It was a normal day: My friend Becky and I were going out shopping, when we came across this creature calling themselves Gemini. They offered Becky, and _only_ Becky, the choice of becoming a Lux Aura, and once she turned into one, the creature just left without letting me get a word in."

Luan hummed to herself as she sat next to the girl. "Well, I guess stuff like that happens sometimes. But, try to look at the bright side."

The comedian brushed Dana's hair as she said:

"Just because he didn't ask you to be a Lux Aura today, doesn't mean he'll never do."

Dana smiled with a glimmer of hope, and shyly said, "Thank you-"

But as soon as she looked up, Luan was already out of sight. Nevertheless, Dana smiled, got up and walked away, with Luan catching a glimpse of the girl's walk before she continued with her patrol.

 ** _Later, on top of a building..._**

The Loud sisters, as well as Gemini, leaned against the edge of the top of a building, watching over the city of Royal Woods as it bathed in bright, colorful lights.

"Royal Woods looks so pretty during the night, doesn't it?" Lola asked.

"Yeah, it's, like, so unbelievable how many pretty lights there are," Leni answered, looking at the many "In fact, it kinda makes me feel overwhelmed, since we're supposed to defend it and all that."

"Hey, the fact the city's so pretty at night is but another reason to give it all we got to defend it," Lori stated, clenching her fist. "And no matter what happens, as long as we literally work together, we'll come out on top!"

The sisters cheered and raised their fists, though out of all of them, Luna didn't keep her fist raised for too long as she immediately noticed Lily's absence among the circle.

Not to mention Lincoln and Lisa's absence as well.

"Is something wrong, Luna?" Luan asked with concern.

"I just feel a little sad at the fact Lily isn't here to join us," the rockstar answered. "Or, heck, Lincoln and Lisa aren't here too."

Gemini lowered their head as Luna added, "It just doesn't feel as good if everybody's not here."

"We're all saddened by the fact Lincoln and Lisa went missing, Luna," Luan said as she put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "But hey, tomorrow we'll begin our search for them, and we'll do our best to find them. So, stay optimistic, okay?"

"Yeah, and besides, being all dark and gloomy is my schtik," Lucy blurted, getting a look from Lynn. "Hey, it's worth pointing it out."

Luna smiled, remembering Becky's words. "You're right, Luan, we'll look for them and we'll find them, no matter what it takes."

The rockstar walked back to the edge and overlooked the city. "Until then, we got to focus on defending the town from the shadows."

And then, the rockstar noticed a rather bright spot over at the middle of the city. "What's that supposed to be?"

"A huge pretty light, of course!" Leni answered as she walked to Luna's side. "Although, like, it could be something else, too..."

" _That's actually a large concentration of Lux Auras in the middle of the city, celebrating their initiation as Lux Auras,_ " Gemini explained, getting the sisters' attention. " _Since their patroling was finished, they decided to celebrate._ "

"Huh, a celebration for Lux Auras?" Lola remarked, then got an idea. "Hey, Gemini, you don't think we could maybe go there for a second?"

" _You started your training today, so you have as much right as every other aura to go to that celebration and have some fun,_ " the creature answered as they walked towards the edge. " _Still, we won't lie to you: We hoped all of you could come, including Lily. But, perhaps, she can be present for the next one tomorrow._ "

Luan raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you think there will be something like that tomorrow?"

" _Just because a large concentration of Lux Auras were conscripted today, doesn't mean every single female in Royal Woods is one of them,_ " Gemini answered as they prepared to jump. " _But why take my word for it, when you can see it for yourself?_ "

Gemini jumped off from the building and straight into the celebration, with the sisters taking a second or two to process what they did before they jumped from rooftop to rooftop, following the direction towards the celebration.

And as soon as they arrived, they were in for a surprise: The street was filled with vibrant lights, and as many as a dozen Lux Auras danced around to the tune of upbeat music.

Among these auras was Becky, who immediately noticed Luna.

"Hi, Luna!" Becky chirped as she shook Luna's hand. "I'm glad you could join us! You know, I felt a bit worried that you were going to show up or not, since I didn't tell you about this event, but I'm glad you found your way in!"

"Luna, who's this girl?" Luan inquired.

"She's Becky, one of my classmates," Lori answered as she walked forward and shook hands with the redhead. "I didn't knew you had turned into a Lux Aura as well."

"You're not the only surprised!" Becky answered as she looked at the team of girls. "When Luna said her sisters were also Lux Auras, I didn't think she meant all of them!"

"Truth be told, it's not all of us, but that's literally not something worth discussing right now," Lori answered, waving her hand in a dismissive manner. "For the moment, show us around, please."

"With pleasure!" Becky chirped.

And so, the sisters followed the redhead around the city street to see each and every fun activity the event had available. And in the middle of this trip, Luan asked:

"Hey, um, Becky, right? Do you just so happen to have a friend named Dana?"

Becky stopped and raised an eyebrow. "A friend named Dana... yeah, I do have one. Why?"

"I think I met her while I was patroling the streets," Luan answered. She gave a sheepish smile as she added, "She seemed rather bummed out, so I talked to her. I hope you don't mind."

"Hey, as long as you didn't make her feel worse, I don't mind," Becky sighed. "If anything, I was hoping I could talk with her after the patrol was over, but I couldn't find her anywhere around the streets. I guess she probably went home."

"Well, considering Shadows could come out at any second, that's probably for the best," Luna said. "Anyway-"

Just then, the rocker spotted something in the distance and stopped right on her tracks, getting her sisters-and Becky's-attention as she exclaimed:

"Is that Lily dancing with Gemini?!"

The team turned to the direction Luna was facing, and they saw Lily, grown-up and in her Lux Aura uniform, dancing with Gemini, who pulled some sick dancing moves despite their status as a quadrupedal animal.

"Is she one of your sisters?" Becky inquired as she pointed at Lily. "I remember Lori telling me she was a baby..."

"She is a baby, Becky, it's just that she grows up when she transforms," Lori explained. "But what's she doing here?"

Lori turned to Luan. "Didn't you and Luna leave Lily behind at the house?"

"We did!" Luan answered, folding her arms as she thought about it. "The only way she could be here is if Mom and Dad took her here, and I find that very hard to believe."

"Well, whatever," Luna pinched the bridge of her nose. "The only way we're getting an answer is by getting it out of the horse's mouth!"

Suddenly, Luan got in Luna's way. "Luna, wait!"

"Yeah, using brute force to get what you want is my thing!" Lynn stated, cracking her knuckles as she ran up to Lily. "Stay here, I'll go talk to Lily."

"Lynn, wait, that won't help anybody!" Luan said, trying to calm down the rockstar. "Listen, Luna, I understand you're upset at the fact Lily's here, but don't get angry at her! Let's find out why she's here first, without sounding hostile!"

Luna took a deep breath. "You're right, Lily's just a baby after all. Getting angry at her will only make her cry."

And as the comedian-rockstar pair walked to the dancing duo, Leni suddenly thought of something:

"Now that they mention it, how much of her baby personality does, like, Lily have remain after she transforms? Does she-"

Lori covered Leni's mouth. "Let's literally not bring that up right now."

Eventually, Luna and Luan reached the duo and tried to get their attention:

First, Luna coughed twice. This didn't work.

Next, both Luan and Luna coughed. All this got them was a remark from Gemini:

" _We'll be sure to remind you to buy an inhaler when you get back home._ "

Now finally exasperated with the creature, Luna snatched them and lifted them by their tail, before she growled:

"What's Lily doing here?! Isn't she supposed to be asleep!?"

Gemini looked elsewhere. " _Wouldn't it be better to ask her yourself? After all, anything we say probably wouldn't be taken at face value by you._ "

"You have to admit, they do have a point there," Luan answered. "I'll go ask Lily, you keep Gemini occupied."

Luna nodded in agreement and walked back to the team while carrying Gemini. As she did that, Luan walked up to Lily and, seeing the girl was having fun, she decided to join in for a short while, dancing right by Lily's side as the music started getting a faster beat.

They continued to dance for a while, with the rest of the sisters keeping Luna busy so she wouldn't interfere. Some more dancing later, and then the music came to a close with the pairs spinning around, and the one partner gently putting the other one down.

And at this point, Lily opened her eyes to see she was holding Luan, who winked at her and said:

"Hey there, Lily."

"Luan?!" the girl exclaimed in disbelief as she dropped her sister. "W-W-What are you doing here?!"

"That's the question I should be asking," Luan answered as she got up. "Along with "why are you in your Lux Aura form?" "How are you in Lux Aura form?" Oh, and most importantly."

The comedian spun around, then struck a pose. "Am I an awesome dancer, or what?!"

Lily giggled, but her laughter stopped once Luan extended her hand towards her and said:

"Let's go home, alright?"

And with that said, the duo reunited with the sisters, and they-along with Becky-started leaving the city square.

"Well, look at the bright side," Luan said. "At least she doesn't seem to be here,"

"Who doesn't seem to be here?" Becky inquired.

"The girl that attacked Lily," Luna answered with a stern tone. "She had braided hair, I think a pink uniform, and used a bow with magical arrows."

"Yeah, and she seemed to be about Lily's age," Luan answered, earning a confused look from the duo. "Actually, no, she looked around Lincoln's age."

Becky hummed. "No, she doesn't sound familiar to me. Are you sure it wasn't just a girl cosplaying as a magical girl?"

"I just said she used a bow with magical arrows," Luna answered. "Explosive, stunning, wings, all of her arrows were stuff only a Lux Aura could have!"

"Calm down, Luna, Becky can only literally know so much," Lori told the rocker as she put a hand on her shoulder. "If the girl who attacked Lily isn't here, and she can only go by our words, then there isn't much we can get out of her."

"However, don't worry, I'll be on the lookout for that girl if you want: If I see anybody who fits the description you gave me, I'll be sure to give you a call," Becky added with a reassuring tone. "And I mean, unless more Lux Auras appear out of nowhere, she shouldn't be hard to find."

The sisters nodded, and they left without hesitation, leaving the redhead to enjoy the rest of the party.

 ** _Back at the Loud House, Lisa and Lily's bedroom..._**

Gemini and Lily stood side-by-side as Luna and Luan looked at them with disapproving looks.

"Lily, listen, we understand, okay? A big party in the middle of the street where Lux Auras have gathered? Who wouldn't want to join that?" Luan said with a calm tone. "However, I said it before, and I'll say it again: Not only was it past your bedtime, but you already suffered a lot of damage in your fight against that archer Lux Aura. You need to rest."

"And, now that she mentions it, how exactly did you get up after we said it was your bedtime?" Luna asked, raising an eyebrow. "You fell asleep right then and there, and we both know how much of a heavy sleeper you are."

"I don't know either," Lily answered without looking at her sisters. "I was sleeping all normal, and then bam, I wake up and I'm in my Lux Aura form!"

"But you can't transform without consciously destroying your light cube," Luna remarked, then got an idea. "Unless..."

Luna and Luan looked at Gemini, who avoided eye contact and remained silent for a moment until they said:

" _After you left to patrol the streets, we returned here, grabbed Lily's white cube and made her transform. Afterwards, we teleported her to the city square, where she waited until the party started._ "

"So you were just trying to let Lily enjoy the same stuff as us, right?" Luan sighed. "But Gemini, you should know that it's dangerous at night! And besides, what if a shadow actually attacked, and Lily got hurt?"

"Luna, Luan, please stop, we get it already," Lily said. "Listen, I'm sorry that I snuck out and went to the party without your permission. There, I apologized, so can we continue our lives as if nothing happened?"

"Under one condition: Lily will be asleep the rest of the night," Luna answered. "And next time she wants to go out, she has to go through us first, got it?"

"Geez, you're starting to sound more like Mom and Dad than Mom and Dad themselves," Lily chuckled. "And now that I mention them, where are they anyway?"

"They're probably already asleep, it's pretty late at night, after all," Luan answered.

"And you should be asleep by now, too, Lily," Luna added. "So come on, get on the crib, and undo the transformation."

The duo exchanged looks, no doubt prompted by the weird sense given by the statement, but the girl sighed and obliged: She got on the crib, turned back to her baby form, and without even a second's hesitation, she fell soundly asleep.

"As for you, Gemini," Luan said, getting the creature's attention as she scratched her head. "I don't know, is there anything else you're planning to do?"

" _Truth be told, we have to go visit someone,_ " Gemini answered. "We wanted to talk to them earlier so we could spend some time here, but alas, it seems some business they had got in the way."

"Do you want us to come with you?" Luna asked. "It could always be a trap, and besides, we're curious as to who you're going to-"

" _We insist on going alone, Luna and Luan Loud,_ " Gemini bluntly answered. " _And we apologize for not telling you this person's name, but we fear that if you were to know who we're talking about, then you would insist on intefering with this private matter._ "

With that said, Gemini promptly turned around and left the house, leaving the sisters to think about what they said.

"I don't know about you, Luna, but Gemini seemed a little... shady, right there, didn't they?" Luan remarked, with Luna sadly nodding in agreement. "Do you think we should be worried about them having some sort of secret plan?"

"Maybe, but we should find out whether they're up to no good first," Luna answered. "After all, if they're working towards something good, and we just so happen to ruin it at the last second, Royal Woods might pay dearly for it."

"I can help with that."

Luan screamed and jumped right into Luna's arms as the pair turned to see the one who said that was none other than Lucy.

"I guess turning into a Lux Aura hasn't changed much, if you can still get caught off-guard like that," the goth girl remarked with a slight hint of disappointment. "Anyway, I heard your conversation with Gemini, and I think I might be able to help you find out what's going on with them."

"Right, I guess if there's anybody who can spy on someone withouth being detected, it would be Lucy," Luna remarked as she put Luan on the ground.

And earning a disapproving look from the goth, the rocker sheepishly added, "No offense, of course."

With her disapproving look frozen on her face, Lucy activated her special ability: Invisibility, rendering her... well, invisible, to the naked eye.

When did she learn how to do this ability? Only the goth girl herself knew.

Nevertheless, Lucy left the house, jumped on to a lamppost, and followed Gemini as they headed for Girl Jordan's house, where the girl spotted them as soon as they got into view.

And once they were close enough, she growled:

"What the heck do you want, Gemini?"

The creature flinched and stepped back.

"After everything you did to me, paying me a visit should be the last thing you'd ever think to do!"

" _All we did was turn you into a Lux Aura,_ " the creature responded in a matter-of-factly tone. " _Unless you hold a dislike of magical girls, that's not a reason to be angry at us-_ "

"Stop playing dumb!" the girl suddenly snapped. "You know very well why I'm angry with you, don't deny it!"

" _W-We're not denying anything, Girl Jordan,_ " the creature answered, trying to stay calm. " _We just fail to see the point behind your anger, that's all._ "

"You took Lincoln away, as well as his second youngest sister, and you know it!" Girl Jordan answered. "Can you even imagine the mass panic his classmates, including me, had when we found out they had gone missing!?"

The creatured tilted their head. " _And what makes you think we had something to do with it?_ "

"Because when they went missing, you entered the scene!" Girl Jordan stated. "And I refuse to believe it was just a coincidence!"

" _But-_ "

Before the creature could finish, Girl Jordan materialized her bow and arrows and shot one of the arrows at the creature, who dodged it, only to be sent flying back by the ensuing explosion.

"Stay away from me, Gemini," Girl Jordan hissed. "Don't heed this warning, and I promise you, I'll be sure to kill you personally!"

The girl closed the door shut, and the creature slowly stood up as Lucy jumped off the lamppost and landed nearby, her sympathetic look masked by her invisibility.

" _Well, that didn't go as well as we had hoped,_ " Gemini said, lowering their head. " _We're sorry you had to see that, Lucy Loud._ "

Hearing her name be called, the girl's invisibility finished, rendering her visible again.

"How did you know I was there?!" Lucy asked with shock. "I was completely invisible!"

" _Believe it or not, there are certain perks to being the one to create Lux Auras, including not being fooled by their powers,_ " Gemini answered with a slight hint of pride before they turned to face the girl. " _And besides, you're invisible, but your weapons aren't, so the seemingly floating objects kinda gave it away._ "

Lucy noticed she had her scythe out, and she dematerialized it with an embarrassed look.

" _We request that you don't tell Luan and Luna about what you've just witnessed,_ " Gemini requested with a humble tone. " _It's hard enough to work with Girl Jordan as it is, that difficulty would be increased exponentially if she were to think I'm double crossing her._ "

Lucy took a step back and thought about the request, until she realized this was the perfect chance to get some context as to what the heck was going on. So, she clenched her fists and asked:

"Tell me what's going on between you and Girl Jordan, as you called her."

The creature remained silent for a moment, then looked at the moon and answered:

" _Fair enough, you want an answer in exchange for your silence, we understand. Therefore, let us give you a hint on what's going on._ "

Lucy nodded and listened intently as the creature, still staring at the moon, said:

" _We may have made a mistake, and all Lux Auras are in danger._ "

The goth girl gasped and her eyes widened, while Gemini turned back to face her and added:

" _In fact, all of Royal Woods is in danger. And without the Lux Auras, it might be destroyed by the end of this year._ "

"W-What are you talking about?!" Lucy exclaimed before she took a step forward. "What did you do?!"

" _We're afraid that's all we can tell you at the moment, Lucy Loud,_ " the furry creature answered as they walked past the girl. " _To tell you more about the situation would result in the loss of your support in the upcoming event itself._ "

Gemini stopped, turned to exchange looks with Lucy and said:

" _And we need all the support we can get._ "

With that said, the creature jumped back to the Loud house, with Lucy taking a moment to think about what she heard before she followed them.


	4. Episode II: Penumbra

**And now we have the next chapter of Lux-Umbra, in the last day before we go from January and February.**

 **Oh my lord, I just realized how fast time flies. It feels barely like a week ago when I posted the first chapter to this story. XD**

 **Anyway, in this chapter we'll get to see Girl Jordan and Lily interact again, though not in the way you might expect. The next chapter before this will be slightly shorter as well, having around 2000 words less, so between the 3000-4000 words.**

 **But that's for another day. For now, let's answer some reviews:**

 **1) ChernoMan:**

 *** Don't worry, Nobody joined the party. ;)**

 *** True.**

 *** I think so, yeah... sorry...**

 *** Yup.**

 *** Yeah, how weird is it that the person who always wants to become something turns out to be, at best, below average at it, but the person who never even asked for it turns out to be better?**

 *** And it was by accident too. XD**

 *** Lucy was there? I didn't see her.**

 **2) Nobody245:**

 *** I don't remember Darkness being mentioned anywhere in the story, only the Shadows. And about the whole "people should be more afraid of light than darkness" thing... well, let's just say that your words hold a lot more weight than you think.**

 *** I sure hope you didn't bet a lot of money on that. I wanna pull unexpected plot twists, dang it! Kidding, of course, XD**

 *** I don't wanna unleash a spoiler-splosion, so I'll just say, you'll see soon enough.**

 **And now, to the chapter!**

* * *

The next day came to Royal Woods, and though the sisters managed to sleep peacefully, they were all woken up when they realized something in unison:

"Today's a school day!"

So they each got dressed, had breakfast, the general routine, until they dashed through the doors and ran straight for their respective schools.

The only sister left behind was Lily, who slowly woke up and took a look around before Mr. and Mrs. Loud entered the room.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Mrs. Loud said as she grabbed and lifted the baby. "Did you sleep well last night?"

Still remembering what she did yesterday, Lily decided to save face and nod to say that yes, she did sleep well.

"Well, we're glad, because we pulled an all nighter to keep an eye on shadow activities as per Gemini's request... until we fell asleep, that is," Mr. Loud answered. "And now that I mention them, where are they?"

"Knowing them, they're probably looking for potential Lux Aura candidates," Mrs. Loud suggested, rolling her eyes. "They've been rather stubborn when it comes to the fact they need to contract more Lux Auras, even after they contracted most of our kids."

"Yeah, it almost seems like they're desperate, for some reason," Mr. Loud said. "But, oh well, that's not something we should worry about now. We need to keep Lily company until her sisters return."

With that said, the baby looked at the audience with concern as she and her parents left the room.

 ** _Meanwhile, at the Royal Woods Elementary School..._**

Girl Jordan leaned her back against a wall, arms crossed with a stern glare as she looked around the playground, where her classmates were having fun like normal kids.

" _Look at them, so blissfully ignorant of the mistake most of them have done,_ " she thought as she shook her head. " _I don't know how many of them made a contract with Gemini, but they're so persistent, not to mention seemingly everywhere, that I find it hard to believe none of them have made a contract yet-_ "

"Mrs. Girl Jordan?"

The girl opened her eyes wide and turned around to see who called her name, only to see it was her homeroom teacher, Mrs. Johnson, looking at her with a stern look as she said:

"Classes are about to start, you should be heading for the classroom already!"

"Sorry, Mrs. Johnson, I'll be there soon," Girl Jordan answered. "I'm just concerned because some of my classmates might be Lux Au-"

Thinking secret identities were a thing, Girl Jordan covered her mouth and looked elsewhere. "I-I mean-"

"Don't bother hiding it, I know about the existence of Lux Auras," Mrs. Johnson stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "In fact, I'm pretty sure everybody in Royal Woods knows about them at this point."

Girl Jordan gasped at the revelation, and facepalmed. "Well, I had the feeling most people knew, but not everybody. I thought this would be like all those magical girls where the magical identities must be kept a secret."

"I know what I'm about to say might be contradictory, but this is reality, Mrs. Jordan, not a magical girl show," Mrs. Johnson remarked. "Anyway, stop leaning back against the wall and head to your classroom, the bell's about to ring."

Girl Jordan nodded, and the woman went back inside as the girl turned back to look at her classmates with a look of concern. One that could almost be mistaken for a glare.

And just as the bell rang, Lola, Lana, and Lucy all arrived at the school and ran into their classrooms, with Girl Jordan watching them run before she entered the classroom and sat on her desk...

Which was at the side of Lincoln's empty desk.

"Hey."

The girl flinched and turned around, only to see the one who said that was Clyde, who looked at the girl with a sympathetic look.

"Still trying to accept the fact Lincoln's not here, right?" Clyde asked as he rested his cheek on his palm. "I understand you; it can be hard for someone who's been there all the time, that you cared for so much, to just suddenly vanish without a trace."

"You two were best friends, right?" Girl Jordan asked, frowning sympathetically at the boy. "How do you cope with his absence?"

Clyde chuckled and looked at the. "I remind myself of the positive side: He may not be here, but at least we don't need to worry about him being attacked by a shadow."

With that, Girl Jordan smiled, and looked back at the blackboard as she said:

"Yeah, I guess that's a good thing."

Just as the classes started, however, Girl Jordan's white cube, which she wore on her braid, started glowing, which could only mean one thing...

 ** _Meanwhile, with the parents and Lily..._**

"It appears that a couple cores of darkness suddenly materialized at the city square," Mr. Loud said as the monitor showed the scene of the cores in question. "And although some people are present at the square, none of them are Lux Auras."

"But didn't Gemini practically on a contracting spree yesterday?" Mrs. Loud pointed out as the baby looked at the screen in shock. "Not even one of the Auras he contracted with are available?"

"No, and though I could call them, the cores might turn into shadows by the time they arrive at the scene," Mr. Loud scratched his chin. "And I mean, we could send our other daughters, but they've got school."

And then, Lily jumped off her mother's grasp, took out her white cube, and used it to transform as she hit the ground. Once the transformation was over, Lily raised her mace and proclaimed:

"I'll go take care of them!"

The parents could only gasp at their baby daughter's instant declaration before she ran off to the city square to take care of the cores of darkness.

 ** _City Square..._**

Soon enough, Lily arrived at the square and found about three cores, but no Lux Auras taking care of them.

"Huh, that's weird, I thought that there would be at least another Lux Aura in the area," Lily remarked as she jumped to one of the cores. "Then again, the cores just appeared, so they might be on their way, but these things might turn into shadows by the time they arrive!"

And so, Lily squashed the core next to her with her mace, then jumped and slammed her mace on another one nearby, destroying it as well.

Moments before she managed to hit the remaining core, however, an arrow hit it and glew a couple times before it exploded, with the explosion sending Lily flying back a bit as someone asked:

"Shouldn't you be at school right now?"

Lily, recognizing the voice, turned around and narrowed her eyes once she saw the one who spoke was none other than Girl Jordan, on her Lux Aura form, ready to shoot her bow and arrow.

"I could ask the same thing to you," Lily stated sternly. "Especially since you're the one who actually has school: I'm still a baby."

Girl Jordan quickly checked Lily narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, and I'm supposed to believe that?"

"Look, I'm telling you the truth!" Lily whined. "If there was another baby or toddler Lux Aura, I bet they'd age up after transforming too!"

"But as far as we know, there isn't, so I'm going to take your word as complete bologna until I'm proven wrong," Girl Jordan stated as she walked past Lily and started looking around. "Anyway, I don't have time to waste, I need to go look for the remaining cores of darkness."

"You mean there's more?" Lily eyed her mace. "I was sure my Gardening Ground Pound would've taken care of all of them."

"Seriously? You named your attack?" Girl Jordan asked with slight disbelief. "Not only that, but you gave it such a lame name?"

"Hey, if you can come up with a better name, then ImI all ears!" Lily stated with a pouty face.

"Again, I don't have time for this!" Girl Jordan snapped. "I need to fimd a core and make sure it reaches its penumbra stage!"

Lily's eyes widened at this revelation, and she sternly looked at Girl Jordan as she asked, "Why?"

"...Let me skip the symbological, philosophical, or whateverogical mumbo jumbo you'd expect and be blunt with you," Girl Jordan folded her arms. "If a core of darkness matures from its antumbra to its penumbra state, it will gain a physical form, this is what Gemini told you?"

"Well, yeah," Lily nodded. "Did you find anything else about it?"

Girl Jordan gripped her bow tighter. "Did he tell you what the physical form looked like?"

Lily thought about it, then shook her head. "No, not really."

"Well, then we're both on the same page..." Girl Jordan sighed. "However, unlike you, I once saw what a penumbra core's physical form looks like... and... I couldn't believe what I saw."

 ** _Flashback..._**

 _"I was just starting out on my Lux Aura business, and like you and your sisters, Gemini initiated me by tasking me to destroy some cores of darkness before they turned into shadows."_

 _Girl Jordan reached for one of the cores, but she was hit by some attack, which sent her flying away from her target._

 _"However, something happened, and one of the cores I was supposed to destroy reached it's penumbra state."_

 _Once the girl got up, she got a first seat to watch the core turn from an antumbra core into a penumbra core._

 _"That was when I saw it morph, and once it finished transforming..."_

 _The core's morphing finished, and as it turned to face the girl, she saw that..._

 _"It looked just like me."_

 _The core smiled maliciously as the vision ended._

 ** _Back at the present..._**

"So, wait a minute, you're saying that the penumbra core... took the same shape as you?" Lily asked, earning a stern nod from the girl. "But... how is that even possible?"

"I don't know, but it did give me an idea," Girl Jordan scratched her chin. "The penumbra core took my shape, but there's no telling whether that's the only time it'd ever happen. So, I tried to look for another antumbra core, so I could protect it and let it bloom into a penumbra core, to see if it took my form as well."

"So that's why you headed to the city square while it was infested with shadow cores," Lily said, only to then realize something else. "But, well, you could've done your stuff without trying to shoot Gemini to death, you know?!"

"Hey, I want Gemini dead, and I wanna see if the penumbra core can take any other shape: I was just trying to hit two bullseyes with one arrow," Girl Jordan answered as she continued to look around. "Anyway, I get the feeling there's a core of darkness somewhere nearby."

Lily narrowed her eyes with determination. "I'm coming with you then."

Girl Jordan turned to look at Lily with shock, but once she thought about it, and realized facing a penumbra core alone might be troublesome, she took a deep breath and stated:

"Fine, but don't get on my nerves."

"That'll probably be easier said than done," Lily chuckled. "Anyway, let's go!"

And so, the duo jumped off to look for the core in question, which also gave them a chance to talk:

"So, how long did it take for that core of darkness to turn into a penumbra core?" Lily inquired.

"I didn't keep track of the time, to be honest," Girl Jordan sighed, looking at the sky as she thought about it. "I believe it transformed after around 5 or so minutes, but that's just an estimate."

"Okay, and exactly who took it out?" the girl asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, I'm willing to bet you took it out on your own, but just to be sure-"

"If I can be honest, I thought I could take it out on my own, but it proved to be stronger than I expected," Girl Jordan narrowed her eyes. "My looks wasn't the only thing it took; it also had my moveset as well, bow and arrow and everything."

Lily hummed. "So, it was like a mirror fight?"

"That implies that the core did the exact same tactics that I did," Girl Jordan shook her head. "All it did was shoot shadow arrows at me, and while I understand that it probably can't use anything else, I didn't just have normal arrows, but the logical thinking and planning required to outsmart it-"

"So, you didn't have those explosive arrows, winged arrows, and smoke bombs then, huh?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "Did that fight prompt you to get those different arrows, then?"

"Well, it was one reason," Girl Jordan rolled her eyes. "The other was because I thought it would be a bit more useful to have a varied arsenal in general. Not unlike you, who only has a mace."

"Hey, I just started about a week or two ago, okay?!" Lily whined. "How long have you been a Lux Aura?"

Girl Jordan fell silent as she looked everywhere for something to divert the girl's attention, which she did as soon as she found a core of darkness.

"Look, there's a core!" she exclaimed. "Let's go see it!"

"Answer me, dang it!" Lily yelled as the duo went after it.

Once they were close enough, the girls took a look at their surroundings, then turned back at the core.

"Okay, so now we wait for it to turn into a penumbra core, right?" Lily asked, only to then realize; "but wait, what about the other remaining cores?!"

Girl Jordan aimed a winged arrow at her boots, and shot it, with the boots gaining wings as a result. She then flew up as high as she could and overlooked the city, with no traces of another core of darkness besides the one she and Lily were in front of at the moment.

With that verified, Girl Jordan flew down to Lily's side, and her boots turned back to normal and she hit the ground as she answered:

"This core is the last one remaining, so we don't need to worry about any other core turning into a shadow."

"Well, that's good, I guess," Lily glanced at the core with concern. "But hey, what happens if we aren't strong enough to take on the Penumbra Core?"

Girl Jordan's flinching implied she didn't have an answer at hand. And before she could even try to come up with a convincing lie, the core started going to its penumbra phase.

The girls took a couple steps back as the core's form started to morph crudely into a teenage-sized form, which contorted as it started

The resulting penumbra core took the form of Dana, who flashed a malicious smile at the girls.

"It looks just like... actually, I don't think I've ever seen someone look like that before!" Lily exclaimed as she took a step back. "Hey, if it doesn't look like you, then what do we do now?!"

"Lookalike or not, it's still in the process of turning into a shadow," Girl Jordan aimed her bow at the core. "So, we destroy it before it has the chance!"

Girl Jordan shot an explosive arrow at the core, who turned into an immaterial shape and moved to the side to dodge it, with the explosion sending the shadow right towards the pair as they morphed back to Dana's shape, and transformed their hands into blades.

The girls dodged the incoming slash, and as the shadow went on to try hack Girl Jordan to pieces, Lily exclaimed:

"It's using swords, so, are swords the weapon of that girl?!"

"Hey, how about you spend less time making theories and help me out here?!" Girl Jordan exclaimed as she dodged the slashes. "I'm prepared for long range combat, not close range!"

Lily returned to reality, jumped to the core and got ready to swung her mace down, only for the shadow to turn around, morph its hand-swords into a bow and arrow, and shot an arrow at the girl, sending her flying back.

"Whoa, it changed from hand-swords to a bow and arrow in an instant!" Lily exclaimed as she hit the ground. "Is the girl's power the ability to go from weapon to weapon?!"

Girl Jordan aimed her bow and arrow at the core and prepared to shoot it, only for the shadow to once again morph a weapon: From the bow and arrow to a mace, which she swung to send Girl Jordan flying off into a wall.

"I think I get what it's doing now!" the archer said as she slid down. "It's replicating Lux Aura weapons using its own darkness!"

"So it can just change weapons whenever it wants?!" Lily exclaimed, flailing her arms up and down as she whined, "That's so unfair! I want to do that too!"

"Are you for real?!" Girl Jordan aimed her arrow at the core again. "I'll keep it distracted, you try to get a hit in!"

Girl Jordan shot some normal arrows at the core, catching its attention and allowing Lily to run straight to the core and try to swing her mace, but the Shadow literally split into two from the upper half, with the other half resembling Becky, sporting a malicious smile as it blocked Lily's mace with a pair of swords.

"Wait, what the heck?!" Lily exclaimed in shock.

Before they knew it, Girl Jordan and Lily were grabbed by the core and thrown into the wall together, with the monster getting ready to kill them...

And then, the core was sent crashing into a wall by an unknown weapon.

The girls turned to face the person who saved them, and it turned out to be none other than Luan, who held... a frying pan on her hand.

"Are you girls okay?!" Luan asked as she tightened the grip on her weapon. "Take a breather, I'll handle this thing!"

"Luan?! What are you doing here?!" Lily exclaimed, with the frying pan immediately getting her attention. "And most importantly, why are you holding a frying pan? Isn't your weapon a rubber chicken?"

"It's one weapon, but not my _only_ weapon," Luan answered. "I'll explain it to you when I'm done with this thing, alright?!"

And as if on cue, the core lunged at Luan, who crouched down and grabbed its feet before she slammed it on the ground and smacked it repeatedly with her frying pan, destroying the body piece by piece until the core itself was exposed.

When Luan tried to smash the core, however, the remaining dark body morphed itself around her, grabbed her, and threw her off into the side with Girl Jordan and Lily, allowing itself to recover.

"Dang it, I need to completely destroy that body, otherwise I won't be able to destroy the core!" Luan said, only to glance at Girl Jordan and get an idea. "Hey, do you think you could do your little arrow rain thing?"

"How do you know about that?" Girl Jordan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I kinda told her about what happened in our fight," Lily confessed. "And the rest of my sisters, too."

Girl Jordan rolled her eyes and turned back to Luan. "Do you have an idea?"

"Lily and I will knock and destroy the core's body, while you create a rain of arrows to destroy the core once its exposed," Luan stated. "Sounds like a plan?"

The trio nodded, and promptly slid down the wall and ran after the core to begin Luan's sort-of plan. First, Luan and Lily used physical attacks to destroy the core's shadow-like body, while Girl Jordan shot a couple arrows into the air.

Then, when the body was so damaged the core was shown, Luan and Lily attacked some more as Girl Jordan shot an arrow to the arrow in the sky, causing it to explode and over a dozen explosive arrows to come out of the smoke cloud, heading directly to the exposed core.

Luan and Lily then jumped away, and the core barely had time to react before the arrows hit the ground, bleeped once, then exploded, causing a giant explosion that engulfed the core's body.

"Did we win?" Lily asked as the trio reunited.

Shortly after, the smoke cloud dispersed, revealing the core was nowhere to be seen.

"We've taken care of the Pseudo-Shadow apparently, so yes," Luan turned to the duo and smiled. "You could say we won."

"But, where's the cube of darkness, then?" Lily asked as she looked around. "Don't Shadows drop those when they're destroyed?"

"I guess that, since the core was in the process of turning into a shadow, but it wasn't yet a shadow itself, there no cube of darkness left to represent its death," Girl Jordan guessed. "At least, that's the only explanation I can think of."

"Well, what matters is that the core was taken care of before it turned into a Shadow," Luan remarked, earning nods from the girls in agreement.

"Actually, now that I think about it, Jordan didn't see any other Lux Auras around the area, and we thought nobody else was going to come for a while," Lily remarked. "So, how did you know we needed help, Luan?"

" _I told her about it._ "

Everybody turned around to the source of the voice, and right nearby was Gemini, standing on top of a piece of debris. Despite its face being the same smiley kind as usual, it notably had a hint of anger behind it as well.

"Gemini!" Lily chirped. "I was wondering where you-"

Then, without warning, Girl Jordan shot an arrow at the debris and it blinked twice before it exploded, with the furry creature jumping away before the explosion.

"Alright, you pendulum rat, it's time for you to tell us what's going on!" Girl Jordan hissed as she got ready to shoot another arrow. "Why did the penumbra core took the shape of the teenager we saw before."

" _Why did you allow the core to bloom into its second phase?!_ " The creature sternly replied. " _You know very well what could've happened had the core not been destroyed!_ "

"Don't dodge the question!" Girl Jordan responded.

Gemini stared wih a frozen look, one that didn't mask their anger very well. " _Answer our question, and we'll answer yours._ "

"Jordan, I think it's for the better that you explain to them why we did it," Lily told the magical archer. "If we can avoid wasting more energy after that fight, the better."

Girl Jordan looked at Lily, then glanced at the creature before she lowered her bow and answered:

"When I was dealing with some cores, one of them reached its second phase and took my form. After dealing with it, I got curious about how the other penumbra cores would be like, and I've been trying to get another penumbra core to confirm my suspicions."

" _So you would endanger the city just to satiate your own curiosity?_ " Gemini sighed and lowered their head. " _Perhaps we should've seen this coming. Sooner or later, the curse known as curiosity would blind a Lux Aura's common sense._ "

"I hate to say it, but they have a point," Luan remarked. "Letting a core of darkness get a step closer to becoming a Shadow was a risky move. One with little pay-off, from what I've seen."

"Whatever, I already explained why we did it," Girl Jordan glared at Gemini. "Now's your turn to tell the truth: Why did the core take the shape of the teenager just now?"

" _Just as the Shadows are embodiments of darkness, their cores typically serve as embodiment of either dark desires or issues that a certain person may be feeling at the moment,_ " Gemini explained as they jumped off the debris and walked towards the team. " _For example, the core you faced was formed from a girl known as Dana's insecurity over the fact her friend, known as Becky, became a Lux Aura over her._ "

"So, wait a minute, you knew how she felt over not being picked?!" Luan asked as she put her hands on her hips. "Then why didn't you just make both of them Lux Auras in the first place?!"

" _We can only create so many Lux Auras, Luan Loud; and even if we could make an infinite amount, that doesn't guarantee they will all be great fighters,_ " Gemini answered with a blunt tone. " _Besides, if Dana wasn't the one to create the core, then somebody's jealousy and insecurity would've done so instead. Basically, there was little we could do to stop it._ "

"Well, at least we took care of it before it went out of control," Girl Jordan said, before smiling at Lily. "And I couldn't have done it without you."

"And me!" Luan added with a pouty face.

"Uh, yeah, thanks to you too," Girl Jordan looked elsewhere and scratched the back of her head. "By the way, could you do us both a favor, and keep the fact your sister and I were out patroling a secret?"

"Right, I forgot, my sisters still don't like Girl Jordan after the fight we had not too long ago," Lily scratched her cheek. "Not to mention, they'd probably go nuts if they found out I nearly allowed a core to turn into a Shadow."

"Don't worry, I'll keep my mouth shut," Luan folded her arms. "But I need you to do something in exchange: Never willingly let a core get close to turning into a Shadow ever again, no matter the circumstances."

"Are you kidding? After what happened, I'll be sure to destroy every single core I see before it even has a chance to evolve," Girl Jordan answered before she turned to face Gemini. "As for you, I'll give you credit where credit is due, and say that you're right: Letting the core go from antumbra to penumbra was a bad idea."

Girl Jordan crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "However, in my defense, if you had been more open and honest about the cores and the consequences of letting them evolve, I never would've become curious enough to try something so dangerous!"

" _On the contrary, it would've been irrelevant whether we were honest about it or not,_ " Gemini sternly stated in return. " _You would've gone ahead and let the core go penumbra anyway, you just would've done it earlier and without the support of the Louds to help you._ "

Gemini tilted their head. " _Are we wrong, Jordan?_ "

Startled by being called by her normal name, Girl Jordan immediately jumped away, leaving Lily between Gemini and Luan's staring.

"I'm sorry for getting involved with Girl Jordan," Lily said as she lowered her head and grabbed her arm. "Especially after the bad first impression we had on her."

"It's alright, Lily, but next time, try to think things through before you do anything at all," Luan said. "Now, how about we walk home?"

"Gemini, is there something we can do with the cubes of darkness?" Lily asked. "I mean, I know you eat them and I guess that helps stopping Shadows from coming back, but is there something Lux Auras themselves can do with them?"

" _Get into more trouble,_ " Gemini bluntly, almost casually, answered.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Lily chuckled. "But still, I find it weird that you're the only one capable of eating them. What happens to them after you eat them, anyway?"

The creature refused to answer, and remained silent for the rest of the walk home, which got both Lily and Luan's concerned attention.

 ** _Nighttime, at the Loud House..._**

The creature stood on top of the house and looked at the moon, their frozen face barely masking their contemplative looks.

"Hey, mind if we join you?"

The creature turned around and saw Luna and Luan, both in their Lux Aura forms, walking towards them.

"Luan said that you seemed a little concerned about something, though she wouldn't tell me of what, exactly," Luna explained. "So, we decided to come keep you company."

The creature turned back to face the moon, " _Do what you wish._ "

The girls sat down at Gemini's sides, and after a couple seconds in silence, Luan popped a question:

"Gemini, did you know Lincoln and Lisa before they disappeared?"

Gemini remained silent for a moment, and just as it looked like they wouldn't answer, they said:

" _Lincoln Loud, the only boy in the family, with no notable characteristics to speak of. This lack of traits to make him stand out, left him isolated._ "

"That..." Luna lowered her head. "Sounds like a good description of him."

Then Gemini continued:

" _Lisa Loud, a toddler born with the brains of Albert Einstein, the smartest in the house. However, with nobody like her in terms of intellect, she too became isolated._ "

"That's actually true too," Luan frowned. "The fact most of us had no idea what she was talking about probably didn't help."

" _Between these two, their isolation was the only thing that they shared, and from this, they decided to rectify it,_ " Gemini lowered their head. " _And as a result, they went... missing._ "

"And then you and the Shadows appeared, right?" Luna inquired.

Gemini remained silent for a second, then said, " _Can we ask you something?_ "

The duo exchanged looks, then nodded, prompting the question:

" _Both of the people you inquired about, were either ignored, or not paid attention to. So, if they were unremarkable and hard to understand, why was it that you noticed when they went missing?_ "

Luna and Luan exchanged looks, nodded, and the rockstar promptly explained:

"We don't expect you to understand, Gemini. But, even if they were hard to approach, and not very special, they still played an important part in the family."

Luan lowered her head and frowned. "The house... Just isnt the same without them."

The creature glanced at both sisters, and seeing the honest concern for their missing brother and sister, it nodded and said:

" _Very well, we believe it's time for you to see it._ "

"See what?" Luan asked.

The creature turned to face the sun and stated:

" _The place where they went missing._ "


	5. Episode III: Investigation

**And now, we follow two episodes with mostly action in both halves, with one that's a little less actiony in the first half, and with a second half that has only a little bit of action.**

 **Don't worry, if this episode isn't satisfactory for you in the action department, episode four will be sure to compensate for that... I'm nowhere near close to finishing it, though.**

 **Also, I'm posting this a little bit earlier because, not only am I Scott Cawthoning my way through this story (I'm not, don't worry), but because I wanted to get this little piece of information out of the door, and see how people would receive it.**

 **Because trust me, there's some interesting stuff in this chapter.**

 **But first, let's answer some reviews:**

 **1) Nobody245:**

 *** I see... looks like I've commited a blunder, and I'm sorry. I... don't really know what else to say, except that I'll try my hardest to try and remember the plot points from now on. I mean, we're barely starting episode three, I shouldn't be forgetting stuff until around episode six, or ten, or eight hundred sixty three (Don't worry, I'm not going for something that long XD)**

 *** I guess you could say Gemini's a wolf?**

 **2) ChernoMan:**

 *** Like you wouldn't believe-I mean, there's nothing wrong with that! More Lux Auras means more safety for Royal Woods... right?**

 *** Was that an original story, or a fanfiction story? I'm kind of in a renewing magical girl craze right now, so I've become very interested.**

 *** Yeah, let's hope he actually does something AND remain in-character for it.**

 *** Baloney, uh huh, got it. *writes it down***

 *** Definitely.**

 *** So, Gemini just stands there looking cute?**

 *** That's assuming that they and Gemini met together in the same room... although, given what's implied this chapter...**

 *** Now we begin the first half of episode three. It's shorter than usual, but hey, they can't all be juggernauts.**

 **And now, to the chapter!**

* * *

The next day, Luna and Luan were jumping from building to building, heading towards Lincoln and Lisa's spot of disappearance, as mentioned by Gemini.

"Okay, so, to recap," Luan started. "Lincoln and Lisa went missing while they were working inside a large laboratory at the outskirts of the city."

"And according to Gemini, the building was owned by Lisa, something which we probably should've seen coming," Luna shook her head. "The only person who would willingly help Lisa do her bizarre experiments, would be Lisa herself."

"And Lincoln, apparently," Luan added. "Do you think we'll find them when we find the laboratory?"

"If we don't find them there, then at the very least we'll find a clue about their whereabouts," Luna said, only to spot something in the distance. "I think I can see it!"

The girls eventually landed in front of the entrance to the laboratory, which looked like it had suffered a large explosion, judging by the several holes among the ceiling and walls. In fact, the building looked like it would collapse any minute now.

So yeah, it was definitely owned by Lisa.

"Okay, Luan, once we go inside, we're not leaving until we find out what happened here," Luna stated as she clenched her fist with determination. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, let's go, the faster we deal with this the better," Luan nodded. "If we don't find anything about Lincoln and Lisa's disappearance, then the teacher's going to be so ticked off at us."

"That's why we left over an hour earlier before school started," Luna replied. "Anyway, let's not waste any more time, let's go!"

The sisters walked towards the entrance to the laboratory, which opened as soon as they set foot on the "Welcome" rug close to it.

"So, the place still has power?" Luna remarked. "That's a good sign."

The pair continued to walk until they went into the laboratory, with the doors slowly closing until they slammed shut.

 ** _Meanwhile, at Lori's school..._**

The oldest Loud sister sat down at her desk and got prepared to start the day, with her managing to hear all the gossip going around the classroom with ease thanks to her advanced hearing.

You'd think being in the phone all the time would hurt her ears, but apparently that wasn't the case. Or maybe it was part of her Lux Aura powers, that could be it too.

Among this gossip, however, was a pair of friends talking abo Lux Auras.

These friends, of course, were Becky and Dana.

The latter asked, "How have you been doing with the Lux Aura business?"

"I gotta be honest with you, Dana, when it's fun it's a great time, and when it's not, it can get quite exhausting," the former answered with a shrug. "But hey, what else do you expect from the defenders of Royal Woods, right?"

Dana lowered her head, and Becky took the chance to speak:

"Say, I heard from a little bird that you're a bit upset because I was turned into a Lux Aura and you were not."

Dana flinched, then lowered her head and looked elsewhere. "I'm not really upset, I just wish we could've become Lux Auras together."

"Yeah, but you know, I'm not sure if that would've been for the best," Becky argued as she put her arms behind her head. "I mean, what if cores of darkness or Shadows suddenly popped up while you were studying for an exam, or while you were in the middle of an exam? You'd have to juggle that and Lux Aura business."

Dana folded her arms. "Isn't that the same case for you?"

"Nah, most of my Lux Aura business is at night, and my school life is during the day," Becky proudly answered. "Add a little job hunting for the slot between them and boom, a stable schedule."

Dana lowered her eyelids and looked down with a downbeat look, which struck a chord with Lori. However, before the girl could get up and walk to the pair, the teacher arrived and said:

"Alright everybody, settle down."

This prompted everybody to sit back down, with Lori glancing at the duo of Becky and Dana before she turned her focus towards the class.

 ** _Meanwhile, at Royal Woods Middle School..._**

Lynn checked her locker's contents for a moment, only to take a look around and frown at the blatant absence of Luna and Luan.

"I know that whatever they're doing is important, but the least they could do is tell us what they were going to do," the athlete remarked as she took out a couple of books. "Just having them be absent at school with no idea as to why makes me worried."

Then, just as she closed her locker, Lynn heard some guys laughing, and tried to ignore them as they leaned against the wall while they talked:

"So, hey, did you hear? Flip was turned into a Shadow, apparently!"

"Turned? Wasn't he always a Shadow in disguise? I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he was!"

" _A disguised Shadow, huh?_ " Lynn thought, scratching her chin. " _I'll have to ask Gemini about that later, it's definitely something to keep an eye out for._ "

Then, what the boys said sent a shiver down the jock's spine:

"Some people are saying that he became a Shadow after contracting with some creature."

" _Wait, they can't be talking about Gemini, right?_ " the jock thought as she closed her locker. " _I mean, I don't know any other creature that could contract with someone, but Gemini's explicitly working to deal with the Shadows._ "

With the question quickly getting to her, Lynn promptly turned around and sternly told the boys:

"Hey, you!"

Once the boys heard her and turned around, however, their reaction was one of complete horror as the leader of the boys shouted:

"Oh no, it's Lynn "Dutch Oven" Loud! Run before she pins us down and farts on us or something!"

With that said, the boys ran away, leaving behind a perplexed Lynn to ponder where the heck did they even hear that term. Not even Lynn herself had heard people call her that before, was it something new?

"Whatever, that doesn't matter," Lynn said while waving her hand in a dismissive way. "What matters is that, if what those guys were saying is true, then there might be another creature going around the place, creating the Shadows, and by extension, the Cores of Darkness."

And then the bell rang, signifying the end of Lynn's conspiracy theoring.

"Dang it, guess I'll have to think about that later."

With that said, the jock grabbed her books and walked to her classroom without hesitation, the question still ingering in her mind.

 ** _Meanwhile, at Royal Woods' Elementary School..._**

" _Two of your students went missing, and most of them, the girls anyway, are Lux Auras tasked with protecting the city of Royal Woods. Aren't you worried for their safety?_ "

Those words were said by Gemini, who stood on Mrs. Johnson's desk as the woman looked at them with a disapproving look.

"Are you?" Mrs. Johnson sternly asked. "I mean, you're the one who turned them into Luz Auras in the first place."

Gemini lowered their head and ears. " _Truth be told, we're the only ones who can create Lux Auras, who in turn, are the only ones capable of fighting against the Shadows. Whether we're worried for their safety or not, we have no choice but to create Lux Auras to fight the Shadows._ "

"And that's why you're speaking to me, right?" Mrs. Johnson folded her arms. "To turn me into a Lux Aura?"

Gemini nodded. " _That's an idea._ "

"Okay, before I even consider accepting the deal, tell me something," Mrs. Johnson raised an eyebrow. "If you knew the Shadows were coming long before they struck, why did you decided to wait until now to make Lux Auras out of adults, rather than teenagers and children?"

" _The first time we tried to bond with an adult, their twisted beliefs and desires caused their cubes to be made black instead of white, causing them to turn into-_ "

Mrs. Johnson's eyes widened. "A Shadow?"

" _No... it's hard to explain, but the being that came out... it felt like the result of the Shadow taking over the host,_ " Gemini shook their head. " _Ever since that thing was created, we thought it would be better to make Lux Auras out of kids and teenagers, rather than adults._ "

"And how did that work out?" Mrs. Johnson casually asked.

The creature fell silent, and as the silence went on for a while, they lowered their tail, head, and rested on the ground.

This caused Mrs. Johnson to sigh and say, "Alright then, I'll become a Lux Aura."

Gemini stood up and wagged their tail in excitement, only for the woman to sternly add:

"On one condition!"

Gemini stopped moving their tail.

"I can't make a bond with you now, because school's about to start, and I don't want a sudden Shadow to get in the way of my classes," Mrs. Johnson explained. "So, wait for me at the school gates after class, I'll bond with you then."

Gemini nodded. " _Sounds like a plan, thanks for your cooperation, Agnes Johnson._ "

"Yeah, no problem, yaddah yaddah yaddah," the redheaded woman stated as she sat down. "Now please get off my desk."

Gemini nodded, and jumped through the window just as the bell rang, and the classes started.

 ** _Back with Luna and Luan..._**

The Lux Aura duo continued to walk around the abandoned laboratory, who had most of its technology either broken or barely functioning, with the lights periodically turning on and off.

"Yup, this place looks like it was used by Lisa alright," Luan remarked as she took a look around. "Although, the fact this looks less like an explosion battleground and more like one of those abandoned laboratories in horror movies makes me wonder what was Lisa up to."

"Whatever it was, let's just hope it wasn't anything dangerous," Luna replied with slight concern. "I mean, she once got radiation poisoning on her brain because she wasn't careful with chemicals: With an entire laboratory she could use, who knows what she could've done."

"Well, at least she had Lincoln to act as a conscience and voice of reason," Luan answered. "Then again, there's the chance she probably ignored him half of the time..."

And then, the pair reached a room labelled "Experiments," which they entered after a bit of hesitation.

Inside the room, there were several capsules filled with a clear liquid, with partially-grown entities inside of them. Some were just a torso, some were practically just a fetus, but all of them had grown to some extent.

"Looks like Lisa worked on a couple of clones or something," Luna remarked as she looked closely at the incomplete entities. "I wonder what she bribed Lincoln with to convince him to help her with these things."

"Actually, these things are labelled "Lisa Only," Luan pointed out while she pointed at the label underneath one of the experiment's scribbled names. "So, I think it's safe to say Lisa was the only one to work on these ones."

Noticing the same label under the experiment she was looking at, Luna promptly looked at the other experiments, hoping to find one that had a label implying either Lincoln or both Lincoln and Lisa had worked on it.

And indeed, she managed to find an experiment with the "Lincoln and Lisa" label under its name... but the capsule was broken and the experiment was nowhere to be seen.

"Project: Magical Girl Mentor," Luna read out loud, focusing on the missing experiment's name. "So, wait a minute, they were working on something like that?"

"You know what it is?" Luan asked.

"The best guess I can think of is that it's one of those creatures from those magical girl shows," the rockstar answered as she stood up. "You know, the kind that appear out of nowhere and give the girl magical abilities and what not."

And then, Luan immediately got an idea. "Doesn't that sound a lot like Gemini?"

"I find it hard to believe that Lisa could actually create a being capable of giving people, or at least girl, magical superpowers," Luna replied. "I mean, she's done a lot of crazy stuff, but that sounds beyond her capabilities!"

"But still, it could be a possibility," Luan shrugged with a little smile. "Especially with Lincoln and Lisa working together."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Why would Lincoln getting involved matter at all?"

"He could give Lisa either the push to work on something even harder than before, or otherwise stop her before she did something too dangerous, or something she couldn't control," the comedian explained. "If he wasn't around, Lisa would just do whatever she wanted, and that could signify the end of Royal Woods as we know it."

"Well, a different kind of way for it to end as we know it," Luna argued. "After all, the Royal Woods now and the Royal Woods from back then aren't exactly the same deal. Anyway, let's keep looking."

Luan nodded, and the duo resumed their search across the laboratory, with Luan taking one last look at the broken capsule before she left.

 ** _Back at the Royal Woods School, Lucy's Classroom..._**

The girl looked at the scenery through the window, sporting a concerned look that was mostly obscured by her hair.

" _Gemini said that they made a mistake, and that all of Royal Woods was in danger,_ " the goth girl thought as she slowered her head. " _And if what the girl called "Girl Jordan" said is true, then Lincoln and Lisa going missing might have something to do with him..._ "

And then the girl felt somebody gently hit her with a book. "Uh-Wha?!"

"Mrs. Lucy Loud, I understand that there might be a lot of things going on your head, but please, at least try to pay attention to the class," the classroom teacher told the girl with a stern tone. "Today's class will be in tomorrow's exam, so please-"

"I know, pay attention," Lucy answered. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Teri."

The goth girl looked up to see her teacher was Teri, one of the girls the sisters thought Bobby was going ou with behind Lori's back a while ago.

Hearing an answer she approved of, the woman nodded, smiled, and went back to teaching the class, with the goth girl listening as she subtly continued pondering about the situation...

 ** _Back at the Laboratory..._**

Luna and Luan entered a room whose light flickered on and off, with the few moments of light giving them glimpses of the room: It had a widescreen TV, a video recorder, and several videotapes laying around.

And then, as soon as they took a step into the room, the screen turned on, revealing Lincoln as he adjusted the camera, with Lisa working on something in the background.

"It's Lincoln and Lisa!" Luan exclaimed, chirping up at the sight of her younger siblings.

"This must've been filmed before they went missing," Luna remarked. "And judging by the relatively fine state of the lab, before Lisa and Lincoln started working on the experiments, too."

Luan rolled her eyes at Luna's little joke. "Let's just look at it."

" _Okay, so, hi everybody!_ " Lincoln said. " _This is Lincoln and Lisa here, at Lisa's laboratory on the outskirts of Royal Woods._ "

" _Um, the official name is "Loud Corporation," thank you very much,_ " Lisa answered, focusing solely on the experiment in front of her. " _Well, it's official to me anyway, I just can't get those nincompoops of my superiors to call it that too._ "

" _Anyhow, as Lisa just implied, we're working on something using some funding provided to us by some people from an overseas company,_ " Lincoln explained with a little smile. " _I honestly don't know how she managed to convince them to give her this stuff, but hey, that's Lisa for you._ "

Luna and Luan laughed at the statement, only for said laughter to slowly die down as the boy continued:

"W _e're working on something extra special, something that will be sure to-_ "

And then Lisa dashed to Lincoln's side and covered his mouth with her hand. " _Brother unit, don't spoil the surprise!_ "

" _Oh, right, sorry,_ " Lincoln said as Lisa removed her hand. " _How about you spoil it instead?_ "

" _Ugh, go work on the experiments, I'll deal with the message,_ " Lisa said as she replaced Lincoln, who went to check on the capsules. " _So, apologies for Lincoln's statement there, we're working on a secret project that'll be sure to be enjoyed by Lily._ "

"Oh, so they were working on something for Lily," Luna remarked.

" _In fact, we plan to use this project to benefit everybody in the family,_ " Lisa added. " _Heck, potentially benefit everybody in Royal Woods, even!_ "

"That's weird: It's one thing that Lisa and Lincoln would work on something for the whole family," Luan remarked with a raised eyebrow. "But all of Royal Woods?"

"I agree, it sounds fishy," Luan said with a nod. "But then again, Lisa's experiments were rather fishy in general, so-"

" _Anyway, unlike my brother, I'm not going to spoil what the surprise is,_ " Lisa continued. " _However, I will give you a little hint._ "

Lisa looked to her left and right, then leaned closer and whispered:

" _Light and Darkness seems to be a common theme with the basis for this project, and Lincoln suggested we work on something that's been done before, so... yeah, you probably can guess where I'm going with this, whoever's watching this._ "

And just as something exploded and the video ended, the duo made a connection:

Light and Darkness was a common theme... it's also a common theme in Magical Girl shows, at least, according to what the internet said.

And earlier, they found a "magical girl mentor" project inside a capsule.

Light and darkness... Lux Auras and Shadows... Both things that only came about when Gemini came around...

"Lux Auras, Shadows, and Gemini... Is that what Lisa was talking about?" Luna asked out loud as she scratched her chin.

And then the girls checked their watches and saw they were late for class.

"Oh dang, I didn't realize we were staying here for this long!" Luan ran to some of the videotapes. "Come on, let's take a couple of these tapes home and get to class!"

Luna shook her head and chuckled, "Why am I not surprised you want to take the videotapes with you?"

One disapproving look later, Luan and Luna grabbed whatever videotapes they could and ran out of the laboratory and back to the school, but not before leaving the tapes at home.

 ** _Speaking of Home, Sometime After School..._**

The Loud sisters sat on the living room, eating some brunch while Gemini watched them from the table.

" _It appears that you all had a decent day at school, right?_ " Gemini asked.

"Well, yeah, but I couldn't help but notice two of my classmates discussing something about Lux Auras," Lori answered with a concerned tone. "One of them, Dana, seemed particularly upset abou it, but I literally had to leave their discussion for later, since the class started soon after."

"And I was grabbing my books for my next class when I overheard some boys talking about Flip, how they thought he was always a Shadow and not possessed by one," Lynn sighed. "And how there have been rumors about a creature running around, creating Shadows."

Lucy, still keeping her promise not to reveal what she heard from Gemini, turned to Luna and Luan and asked, "Did you manage to find anything about Lincoln and Lisa?"

"Oh right, you two said you were, like, heading out to find something about them," Leni remarked. "So, did you find anything?"

Luna and Luan exchanged looks, then lowered their heads and answered:

"More or less."

"What do you mean, more or less?" Lynn asked. "Did you find something or did you find nothing?"

"Well, we found something, but it was more of a vague revelation than anything concrete," Luan answered. "Apparently, Lincoln and Lisa were working on something at the laboratory before they went missing, something that would benefit everybody in the family."

"Or, as Lisa soon revealed, all of Royal Woods," Luna added.

This statement caught everybody's attention. "All of Royal Woods?"

"Well, Lisa has done experiments that involved the city as a whole," Lana said as she thought about it. "But I don't think doing something that would benefit the whole city is something she'd do."

Lola folded her arms. "At least, not without getting something in return."

"Yeah, that's what I thought, too," Luna sighed. "Oh, and also, we found a capsule that was labeled "Project: Magical Girl Mentor."

Everybody gasped in shock, with Gemini notably flinching upon hearing the label.

"Magical Girl Mentor?" Lucy repeated. "You mean like one of those tiny creatures that give the magical girls their powers? And may or may not be hiding some terrible secret?"

"Why does that sound similar to, like, Gemini?" Leni pondered.

"Luan said the same thing, even saying Gemini could be the mentor in question," Luna said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "But I'm sure that it's just her imagination, right Gemini?"

However, the rocker got no response, and once she opened her eyes, she saw why:

Gemini was no longer in the room.


	6. Episode III: Temptation

**And now we reach the second half of episode three of this little story, one fourth of the way into the storyline... I hope it's been a good ride so far. XD**

 **So, let's cut to the chase: Some crazy stuff happens here. Not as crazy as what'll happen next episode, but still quite crazy if you thought this was going to be an ordinary Magical Girl story.**

 **Then again, that's kinda the norm nowadays, isn't it?**

 **But before we begin, let's answer some reviews:**

 **1) Nobody245:**

 *** Lisa's the kind of person who seems like she would get lost in her own world as soon as she started working on something, so if Lincoln doesn't bring her back to reality, nobody will.**

 *** Would "We have no Chemical X" be a good answer? XD**

 **2) ChernoMan:**

 *** Well, there's a difference between having a supernatural story that includes little action in it, and having a supernatural story that includes little action in it that still manages to be entertaining regardless, and that kinda worries me.**

 *** You think I'm diverse with my ideas?**

 *** Now I'm even more interested. I kinda have one original story idea that also deals with magical girls... sort of.**

 *** Considering the insane number of girls active as Lux Auras, it's more likely that one of the girls will hit the bucket, long before Clyde himself does.**

 *** Are you talking about Gemini, or Kyuney from Puella Magi Madoka Magica? Or from Magical Girl Raising Project? Or Koyemushi from Bokurano? Glossaryck from Star vs. the Forces of Evil? Or literally every _other dang mentor mascot_ in subversive magical girl anime? XD**

 *** I just think that, if you're going for a typical number of words for the chapters, it's better to keep to it and not start juggling word counts at random.**

 *** Quite the contrary, ChernoMan, this can only end well. *cough*sarcasm*cough***

 *** Haaaaaaaah...**

 *** Yeah, how weird is that?**

 *** She's similar to her Chains of Reality version? I never really noticed the similarity between them...**

 *** Well, there's one magical girl show to claim I'm mixing this up with PMMM, as you guessed I would do eventually. Anyway, how can you get a vibe from something you've never seen or gotten involved in it?**

 *** Hey, in Lucy's defense, she keeps her emotions bottled up to herself all the time.**

 *** Dunno.**

 *** Light and Darkness, I think, are more like metaphorical or symbolic phenomena than aspects of reality. When I hear that, I think you're talking about gravity and space, matter and non-matter, creation and destruction, etc.**

 *** Perhaps.**

 *** Are they? It's not like they got any clues as to where Lincoln and Lisa went.**

 *** That... hmm...**

 **And now, to the chapter!**

* * *

A week had passed since the Louds were informed, by Luna and Luan, about the possibility that Lincoln and Lisa had been working on something for Lily, that would likewise benefit all of Royal Woods, and which could possess a connection with Gemini.

Coincidentally, the sisters hadn't seen the furry creature in that same amount of time, having seemingly vanished as soon as the idea popped up.

Nevertheless, this didn't mean the Loud sisters could just slack off on their Lux Aura duties, as proven by how, right now, they were dealing with some cores of darkness at the streets, with Leni and Luan taking care of one together.

"And that's, like, the last one on this street!" Leni chirped. "Should we continue looking, or do you wanna go home, Luan?"

The comedian, however, didn't respond.

"Luan?" Leni repeated. "Is something the matter?"

"I can't stop thinking about the possibility that Gemini was created by Lincoln and Lisa," Luan answered, without looking at Leni. "And there's also the fact that the more I think about it, the more I feel like them going missing just as Gemini appeared can't be a coincidence-"

Suddenly, Leni covered Luan's hand and said, with a motherly tone:

"Luan, those totes are throughts that can make our job, like, needlessly more difficult."

"I think you got totes and thoughts mixed up," Luan remarked as soon as Leni released her mouth.

"See? Now you're, like, having completely different thoughts that won't hinder our work in any way!" Leni chirped, clapping twice to emphasize her joy. "Now, how about we go to the next street before those thoughts return?"

Luan smiled with slight concern and nodded. Leni nodded in return and jumped towards the next street, with Luan looking at her surroundings with worry for Dana before she followed her.

 ** _Meanwhile, with Luna..._**

The rocker cut a core of darkness in half with her axe, just in time for a familiar voice to shout:

"Nice work, girl!"

Luna turned to look at the source of the voice, and without warning, a sword flew by past her and into a core, which it hacked to pieces as Becky walked to the rockstar.

"H-Hey, what the heck was that for?!" Luna snapped as Becky held her arm forward, and caused the sword to fly right back to her. "You could've cut my head off!"

"Nah, don't worry, the direction in which I threw the sword would've have done that," the redhead answered with a dismissive wave of her hand. "At beast, you probably would've been hit right in the forehead."

"That's just as bad!" Luna snapped. "Listen, you seem like a carefree person, and I can respect that, but you can't just do whatever you want!"

"Yeah, I got that," Becky answered before she threw her sword at another core. "But still, you gotta give me credit for dealing with those cores."

Luna sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Whatever, did you see any civillians around the area?"

Becky grabbed her sword back as she hummed, trying to remember if she saw anything. "Nope, I'm pretty sure they were all evacuated."

"That's good to know," the rockstar remarked with a sigh. "The last thing anybody needs is for innocent people to get hurt in the battle."

"Now that you mention it, have you ever wondered where the cores come from, anyway?" Becky inquired, raising an eyebrow and scratching her chin. "I don't know about you, but them "coming out of nowhere" makes me question it even more."

"Yeah, I've been wondering about that too for a while," Luna sighed. "However, Gemini's been missing this entire week, so nobody's found the chance to ask them about it."

Then she realized something. "Speaking of which, have you seen Gemini anywhere?"

Becky shook her head with a frown. "Haven't heard a word from them."

"Dang it," Luna lowered her head. "Where could they have gone to?"

"Well, that's something you'll have to find out on your own, buddy," Becky said as she patted Luna's back. "I gotta check the rest of the city for more cores."

Luna nodded. "Yeah, I understand."

The duo waved goodbye, and Becky promptly jumped off to other parts of the city, while

 ** _Trio of Lynn, Lola, and Lana..._**

Lynn pounded her gauntlets before she used them to slam a core of darkness into the ground, shattering it to pieces, while Lola rolled her whip around a core and threw it up, allowing Lana to jump up and slash it to pieces with her claws.

With that done, the sisters then stood back-to-back as they dealt with some more cores, until Lana asked:

"Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we had powers that activated while we were together?"

"What do you mean?" Lola inquired.

"As in, you know, we hold hands or something, and we activate some kind of secret superpower exclusive only to us," Lana explained with a shrug. "I mean imagine if we held hands right now, and something really cool happened."

"Well, we can do something effective," Lola extended her hand towards her sister. "Wanna give it a shot?"

Lana nodded, grabbed her sister's hands, and the two spun around for a moment before Lola threw Lana at one of the cores, then grabbed her with her whip, which she used to spin Lana around as the tomboy swung her claws around, slashing any cores she came in contact to bits.

And once they finished, Lola pulled Lana back to her. "Wasn't that cool?"

"Yeah, it was!" Lana laughed as she shook her head and calmed down. "Lynn, was that cool or what?!"

However, the jock didn't say anything: She looked at the sky with a contemplative look, while scratching her chin.

"Lynn, is something the matter?" Lola asked as she and Lana walked to the girl's side.

"Ever since the idea was brought up, I haven't been able to stop thinking about the possibility that there might be something else out there, something that's causing the cores and the Shadows to appear," Lynn answered as she turned to face the twins. "And yes, I know there's no reason to believe such a thing exists, but if it does, I'm slightly worried that the time will come where we face it, and we'll have no idea what to do about it."

"Well, I don't think that's something you should worry about for now," Lana shrugged, with Lola nodding in agreement. "I mean, right now we should worry about the cores of darkness, right?"

Lynn, seeing reason in Lana's answer, nodded in agreement, but before she could attack another core of darkness, a purple light flashed by, and the core was no longer in sight, a fate that followed every other core in their area soon after.

They then turned to the purple light as it stopped, and revealed itself to be... a pitch black creature, quite literally: The creature's body was completely black, with no other notable feature besides its red eyes.

And as the creature seemingly swallowed the cores, it slowly turned to face the trio, who were looking at it in shock.

"You girls are seeing the same thing I am, right?" Lynn asked, clenching her fists.

"Yeah, we are," Lola answered, while Lana nodded in agreement.

What followed was a pregnant silence as the shadowy creature and the trio exchanged looks, with the latter not knowing what to do about the creature...

Then it ran away.

"Don't let it get away!" Lynn exclaimed.

The twins nodded in agreement and the trio chased after the shadowy creature, who ran as fast as they could while the trio did their best to stop them: Lynn launched herself at walls to catch it, while Lola swung her whip around, hoping its length would be enough to reach it and tangle its leg.

However, when she did grab the creature and pulled it towards them, it simply morphed into a cloud of dark matter and flew above the twins, with it simply reformer after Lana slashed it to bits.

"Whatever this thing is, it sure isn't like anything we've faced before," Lana remarked.

"Oh please, you slashed at it once and it turned into a cloud," Lola remarked as she tried whipping the cloud. "Save that for when it does something you don't expect from a shadow creature."

The cloud, upon being whipped too much, unleashed lighting at the girls, stunning them long enough to let it fly away, only for Lynn to got on top of it and ride it for a moment before it turned back into the creature and caused them both to fall.

Lynn hit the ground face-first, while the creature landed on their feet, and jumped away just as Lynn swung her gauntlets at them.

However, before the beast could run away again, a spear came out of the skies and impaled the creature right on the back, with it moving its feet rapidly to try and get out before giving in, and seemingly falling unconscious.

This was followed by the one who threw the spear, Lori, falling down and landing next to the spear as the creature woke up, turned into a shadow, and slipped out of the spear, before she ran away yet again.

"Dang it!" Lori snapped. "That's literally the third time it's done that!"

"Lori!" the trio chirped as they ran to her side.

"So, it seems that I wasn't the only one chasing after that thing," the oldest sister remarked as she grabbed and pulled her spear out of the ground. "And unfortunately, it seemed you had literally as much luck as I did."

"We're glad to see you too," Lynn replied. "Anyway, what was that thing?"

"The best way I can think to describe it is an evil Gemini," Lori answered with a sigh. "It hurts me to place Gemini in the same sentence as that thing, but it's literally impossible to not see the similarities between them."

"Dang it, this is exactly what I was afraid we were going to encounter sooner or later!" "We need to find it before it does who-knows-what!"

"Agreed," Lori nodded and put her spear behind her head. "Lynn, you and the twins search this area, I'll go to the rooftop and try to find a glimpse of the creature. It shouldn't be literally impossible to find it in a colorful city like Royal Woods."

The girls nodded and separated, the trio beginning their search on the ground while the eldest sister searched up in the rooftops.

 ** _Meanwhile, with Girl Jordan..._**

The girl was taking care of some cores of darkness around the city square, sporting a deadpan look as she shot some explosive arrows, and watched the resulting explosions engulf the cores.

And her deadpan look didn't have the hints of hostility or agression. In fact, she seemed more... concerned, then she's ever been before.

"Hey!"

Girl Jordan turned around and shot one of her arrows, only for the target, Becky, to swing her sword and cut the arrow in two, ignoring the ensuing explosions as she walked towards the shocked archer.

" _She just cut my arrow like it was nothing!_ " Girl Jordan thought as Becky reached her. " _I didn't even know they could be cut without immediately exploding!_ "

"I heard there was a child Lux Aura dealing with some cores of darkness, and I wanted to see what was that about," Becky remarked, returning Girl Jordan to reality. "It's a very big help, especially since your bow and arrow means you can take care of them from a distance."

Seeing the girl was in a good mood, Girl Jordan looked elsewhere and smiled as she said, "A-And it must be difficult to deal with them up close, right?"

"I mean, it's not like they're actually fighting back," Becky argued. "And besides, do you really think that just because I have a sword, that I can only fight at close range?"

That last statement caught the archer's attention. "Wait, what do you mean?"

Becky smiled, then threw her sword at one of the cores, which sliced it up moments after it clashed with it. Soon after, Becky aimed her hand towards it, and called the sword back to her as the core exploded.

"No way," Girl Jordan said as Becky caught the sword and put it on her sheath. "How did you learn how to do that?"

"By accident, of course!" the redhead chirped. "Seriously speaking, though, I did some experimentation after this thing called Gemini turned me into a Lux Aura, and said I didn't have to use a sword like every other swordmaster did."

Upon hearing the creature's name, Girl Jordan gritted her teeth and lowered her head, catching Becky off-guard.

"Hey, since you're a fellow Lux Aura, you must've met Gemini before, right?" Becky asked, earning a stern nod from the girl. "Well, how did you meet them?"

Girl Jordan narrowed her eyes as she started to remember...

 ** _Flashback..._**

 _The girl was walking home when she heard somebody say:_

 _"Greetings, Girl Jordan."_

 _The girl stopped on her tracks, turned around, and saw Gemini standing around and staring at her, unnerving her._

 _"How do you know my name?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "In fact, who are you?"_

 _"My name is Geminis Divisus, but you can call me Gemini," the creature answered. "And the reason I know who you are, Girl Jordan, is because I need to know the name of every citizen of Royal Woods in order to know who to go to when the Shadows appear."_

 _"Shadows?" Girl Jordan repeated, then shook her head. "C-Cut it out! I have to go to the Loud house to ask Lincoln why he hasn't gone to school, I don't have time to waste!"_

 _And as the girl continued to walk, Gemini looked down and sadly revealed, "You... won't find him there."_

 _Girl Jordan stopped and turned around to look at the creature with a curious look, before she shrugged it off, shook her head, and continued on her way._

 _Unfortunately, when she arrived at the Loud house, she failed to find Lincoln anywhere. In fact, neither Lincoln nor Lisa were around. And before she knew it, days had passed since Lincoln and Lisa had gone missing, which terrified her._

 _And as she walked back home from another Lincoln-less school day, Girl Jordan once again encountered Gemini, who was resting on a bench._

 _"Oh hi, it seems we meet again," Gemini greeted as they stretched, then stood up. "Is something the matter?"_

 _"Are you for real!?" Girl Jordan snapped at Gemini, who calmly nodded. "One of my friends, Lincoln Loud, went missing along with one of his younger sisters! It's been days since they went missing, and there's been no news about them since!"_

 _"I told you that you wouldn't find him there," Gemini shook their head. "The boy and the girl went missing several days before your discovery."_

 _Girl Jordan, realizing a little curious fact of this statement, glared at Gemini and asked:_

 _"And how do you know they went missing?"_

 _"It's fairly easy, actually," Gemini swung their tails back and forth slowly. "You said so yourself: You wanted to ask him about why he, and the girl known as Lisa, hadn't come to school for a while."_

 _And then, Girl Jordan got a crazy idea. "Do you know where to find them?"_

 _"That, I can't say," Gemini scratched their "Ear." "However, I can say that I can help you keep Royal Woods safe until Lincoln and Lisa eventually return."_

 _Girl Jordan's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"_

 _"How do I put this in a way you'll understand..." Gemini stared at Girl Jordan firmly. "Royal Woods is about to change forever, and if nothing is done about it, everything will be destroyed by the end of the year."_

 _And so, with little else to lose, and not wanting Royal Woods to be destroyed, Girl Jordan accepted the deal and became a Lux Aura._

 _A few days since the first Shadow attack, however, and there wasn't any news concerning Lincoln and Lisa's disappearance, something that greatly irritated the girl. So much so, she met up with Gemini, who was standing on top of a piece of rubble._

 _"Hey, scales of injustice! I want to talk to you!"_

 _The creature paused, then turned to the girl. "Is there a problem, Girl Jordan?"_

 _"Yeah! It's been days since the Shadows started appearing, and I still haven't heard a single notice about Lincoln's disappearance!" the girl snapped at the creature. "Didn't you tell me that they would come back if I made this deal with you!?"_

 _"I told you that you could stop Royal Woods from being destroyed before the ones called Lincoln and Lisa returned," Gemini explained as they waggled their tail. "There was never a promise that they would return if you accepted the deal."_

 _"You little jerk, give me back my normal life!" the girl hissed._

 _"And leave Royal Woods with one less defender? I'm afraid I can't let that happen, Girl Jordan," Gemini shook their head regrettably. "If even one Lux Aura isn't active when "it" happens, it could spell the permanent destruction of Royal Woods."_

 _"So what?! Just create over a hundred Lux Auras if that's the problem!" the girl snapped, seemingly giving Gemini an idea. "But I don't want anything to do with this anymore!"_

 _Girl Jordan aimed her bow and arrow at the creature. "So give me back my normal life, give me back my normal schedule, and most importantly, give. Me back. My friend!"_

 _"If you want to find them, you'll have to put some effort into looking for them yourself," the creature answered as Girl Jordan got ready to shoot. "You can't just expect them to suddenly appear next to you, just because you became a Lux Aura."_

 _Gemini jumped away as Girl Jordan shot her arrow, which started blinking as the realization of what the girl struck her._

 _And as she got on her knees and turned to look at the sky, Girl Jordan raised her fists and screamed as loudly as she could as the arrow exploded, with it taking a second before it sent her flying away._

 ** _Back in Reality..._**

"Wow, that sounds harsh," Becky remarked as she looked at the ceiling. "And what's worse is that there's been no news about their disappearance."

Girl Jordan flashed a pouty, on-the-verge-of-tears face to Becky, prompting the redhead to correct herself:

"B-B-But that doesn't mean they're gone forever! I'm pretty sure we just need to be patient, and they'll eventually come back!"

Girl Jordan wiped off her tears. "I always tell that myself, but the fact there hasn't been any recent news about it just makes me worry even more."

"Right now, the thing we need to focus on is our Lux Aura jobs," Becky answered as she placed a hand on Girl Jordan's shoulder. "You don't want to be like my friend Dana, do you?"

This statement caught Girl Jordan's attention. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we were together when Gemini turned me into a Lux Aura, but he didn't turn her into one as well," the redhead explained. "Ever since then, she's been angsting about the fact she wasn't chosen to become a Lux Aura. But since it's only been a week or so, give or take a couple days, since the whole business started, I keep telling her to wait a bit for her chance, but she doesn't really listen to me."

Girl Jordan's curiosity became slightly tainted with hatred at Becky's explanation, something the redhead seemed oblivious to.

"Is your friend somewhere nearby?" Girl Jordan sternly asked.

"I guess so," Becky shrugged. "Why do you ask?"

Girl Jordan narrowed her eyes.

"I want to have a chat with your friend."

 ** _Meanwhile, back at the Loud House..._**

Lucy and Leni walked into Lily, Luan, and Luna's bedroom, the former holding a book, while the latter carried Lily's bottle.

"Alright, I found a decent story to help Lily with her nap," Lucy remarked, what little enthusiasm she had vanishing as she added, "Sigh, I still can't see the reason why the three of us were the only ones not to come with everybody for the day patrol."

"Well, it's kinda, like, overboard to send all of us at once when there are other active Lux Auras at the time," Leni answered as she lifted Lily and fed her. "And besides, somebody has to watch over Lily while Mom and Dad take care of checking for dark signals."

"I guess so, but still, it upsets me that we're not helping the rest of our sisters," Lucy put the book on the bed. "Especially when it could help me clear my mind for a moment."

Seeing the gothic sister was visibly upset over something, Leni quickly finished feeding Lily, then walked to Lucy's side as she said:

"If there's something, like, on your mind, you can tell me about it. Trust me, I totes won't tell anybody about it."

"Leni, I'm sorry, but when it comes to keeping the secrets, you're the worst one of us all," Lucy sighed. "Still, I have to confide this to someone, or else I'm going to grow more anxious..."

Leni looked concerned at Lucy, which finally convinced the girl to explain:

"Luna and Luan sent me to spy on Gemini when they went to see Girl Jordan. However, they then asked me to keep what happened a secret between them."

"I see, I understand," Leni scratched her chin. "But what could be so, like, scandalous that Luna and Luan would want to keep it a secret?"

"Leni, I meant that Gemini's the one who asked me to keep it a secret," Lucy explained, realizing her mistake too late. "And now that I brought this up, you want me to tell you what happened, don't you?"

"I'm not letting you, like, read Lily her story until yo do," Leni answered with folded arms. "So tell me, Lucy! Do it for Lily's sake!"

Lucy glanced at the baby, who had a puppy-dog eyed look. This, along with Leni pulling the same trick on her, convinced Lucy to spill the beans.

"Alright, so this is what happened..."

 ** _Meanwhile, with Dana..._**

The girl was talking with Luan, who took out some pies and threw them at some cores, with the pies exploding as Dana remarked:

"I thought your weapon was a rubber chicken?"

"Well, that's what I thought too, but it turns out that I actually have a bigger repertoire than that!" Luan answered with a wave of her hand. "Pies, water balloons, it seems that if it's commonly used in pranks, I can use it as weapons too."

"Huh, would you look at that, you have an entire supply of pranks at your disposal," Dana remarked, then got an idea. "Hey, Luan, could I ask something from you?"

The comedian, seeing this as a chance to cheer up the girl, nodded with a smile. "Go ahead!"

"Well-"

"Ahem!"

The duo turned around, and saw Becky and Girl Jordan walking towards the girl, the latter looking particularly furious. Seeing this, Dana gestured Luan to leave, and all it took was one determined look from Dana to convince Luan to go through with it. So she left, and Dana took a deep breath just as Girl Jordan asked:

"So, you want to be a Lux Aura, don't you?"

"Um, y-yes?" Dana answered, with slight hesitation. "How did you find that out? In fact, who are you?"

"My name is Jordan, but most people call me Girl Jordan 'cause there's a Boy Jordan in my classroom," Girl Jordan hastily explained. "And your friend here told me you were "angsting," whatever that means, about not being a Lux Aura."

Before the girl could answer, Girl Jordan sternly asked:

"Is there any reason you'd like to be a Lux Aura outside of wish fullfillment? Any reason you can think of, that has nothing to do with your own, dumb desires!?"

Dana flinched. "W-Well, I-"

"Because this isn't just about being a magical girl, oh no, Lux Auras are the defenders of Royal Woods: We have to put our lives on the line in order to stop the Shadows from destroying the city!" Girl Jordan exclaimed right in Dana's face. "And while we're out fighting for our lives, you're over at the sidelines and angsting over how you're not the one risking her life to save Royal Woods!?"

And then Girl Jordan snapped:

"If anything, you should be grateful you weren't chosen! And you should never wish to be chosen in the first place!"

That was enough to completely shatter Dana's idea of the Lux Aura business. The last few statements did enough damage, but the fact a Lux Aura herself said she was better off not becoming one, turned her view a complete one hundred eighty.

To the point that, after the fact, the girl wobbily walked back to her house, trying to process everything that she was just told to, and everything that happened: First her best friend turns into a Lux Aura but she doesn't, she gets comforted by a Lux Aura who then did little to help her besides comfort, and then she got scolded for wanting to be a Lux Aura, by _another_ Lux Aura.

Could this day get any worse?

" _It can, in fact, get worse, spontaneous narrator._ "

The girl stopped on her tracks, and held on to a wall as she turned around, and saw the source of the voice turned out to be none other than the pitch black creature from before.

"W-Who are you?" Dana asked worriedly. "A-Are you even real?"

" _I assure you, I'm very real,_ " the creature answered. " _And so's my offering to turn your dream, into a reality._ "

Dana's eyes widened. "What?"

" _Now, I can't turn you into a Lux Aura,_ " the creature confessed as they walked towards Dana. " _But I can fulfill your wish nonetheless, through another method._ "

Before the girl could play the twenty questions game with the creature, it moved its tail in front of it, then pulled it away to reveal something had suddenly materialized.

It was a core of darkness.

"Isn't... isn't this the thing that the Lux Auras destroy every other day?" Dana asked, her eyes slightly beaming with temptation. "The things that allows the Shadows to exist in the first place?"

" _That's a very crude summarization, but an accurate one nonetheless,_ " the creature answered with a nod. " _However, the only way I can help you, is by giving you this core._ "

"W-Well..." Dana hesitantly grabbed the core and took a closer look at it. "W-What am I supposed to do with this?"

The creature's answer was blunt:

" _Eat it._ "

Like, _really_ blunt.

"E-Eat it?!" Dana exclaimed, almost throwing the core away in shock. "I-I can't do that! I don't even know if this thing's safe for consumption! What if it kills me once I digest it?!"

" _It won't,_ " the creature shook their head. " _And besides, you said you would do anything in order to become a Lux Aura, right? If you eat that core..._ "

The creature's eyes shined gold. " _You'll be like a Lux Aura, but even better. Not to mention..._ "

Dana looked around and saw the shadows of some Lux Auras, forcing her and the creature to hide.

" _The Lux Auras' job is to destroy every core they can find, so that a Shadow never comes out of it,_ " then they turned to Dana. " _And the longer a core exists, the more likely it'll grow until it reaches its final state. And once it reaches that, you will be the one being eaten, darling._ "

Hearing that, Dana threw the core away and ran, leaving the creature to grab the core with its tongue and absorb it before they chased after the girl. And no matter how many twists and turns Dana took, the creature managed to find and follow her once more.

"Why are you following me?!" Dana cried.

" _Because you're refusing the chance of a lifetime, Dana Pain,_ " the creature matter-of-factly stated. " _You could become stronger than the Lux Auras. You could become stronger than the Shadows. And most importantly._ "

The creature got on top of Dana's head and whispered to her ear:

" _Your life could actually matter._ "

The girl stopped for a moment to catch her breath, then walked to a darkened area so she could talk with the creature in peace.

"Okay... phew... I'm not... used to running... for such long stretches..." Dana answered while the creature looked at her. "Sorry... were you saying...?"

The creature took a look around the place, and found a vending machine nearby. They then walked to it, and after a few seconds, returned to Dana with a bottle of water.

" _Here, drink this and regain our strength,_ " they told the girl. " _There's no point discussing important matters with someone who's three seconds away from passing out._ "

"Hey, just because I got tired from running doesn't mean I'm that weak," Dana answered as she took a big drink out of the water. "And besides, how did you even get this in the first place?"

The creature turned to the spot where the vending machine was, only to see the machine was no longer there. They then turned back to Dana, and asked:

" _Are you feeling better now?_ "

"Yes, I am," Dana sighed. "Now explain, what do you mean by my life "actually mattering" if I accept your deal?"

" _Think about it: By becoming a Lux Aura, the person becomes responsible for the protection of Royal Woods. A difficult, dangerous job, but one that gives those who have it a purpose nonetheless,_ " the creature explained as it jumped and rested on Dana's lap. " _Meanwhile, you, and every other civillian, can do nothing but flee or hide while the Lux Auras take care of the Shadow. And in the worst case, you could even end up possessed by the Shadow._ "

"Really?!" Dana exclaimed. "That's something that can happen?!"

" _Yes, but if you absorb the core of darkness, you will gain an immunity towards said possession,_ " the creature added as they moved their tail to their back, then pulled it back, revealing a core of darkness floating on their back. " _All you'd have to do, is swallow the core. And wait until you feel the transformation happening to you._ "

With that said, Dana grabbed the core, and moved it closer to her mouth hesitantly, almost as if she was having second doubts about everything. But then, the girl remembered Girl Jordan's words, and promptly swallowed the core of darkness...

And seconds later, she had to fight back the urge of hurling it out.

"Okay, I don't know what I was expecting," Dana said before she drank a lot of water. "But I didn't think a cube of concentrated darkness would taste so bad!"

" _Yeah, it's something of an acquired taste, assuming you undertake this transformation again that is,_ " the creature answered with a shrug. " _But for now, tell me: Do you feel it? The power rising within you?_ "

Some more moments later, just as the bad taste left Dana's mouth in fact, the girl clutched her chest and took several deep breaths, sweating a little as she lowered her head and closed her eyes, with the creature staring strictly at her. This staring continued as the girl opened her eyes...

And as soon as she opened them, her pupils glew a golden color as she answered:

"Yeah, I feel it alright."


	7. Episode IV: Eclipsed (Part 1)

**So, through some miracle, I managed to finish both part one and part two of "episode 4" by today, with some work done on the next few episodes as well. So, to celebrate, I decided to post the first part of episode four today.**

 **It's totally not because there's another story I have to update this Friday or anything...**

 **Just a heads up before you venture further, however: This episode is going to be intense. Like, very intense.**

 **You may need to watch your jaw, so that it doesn't drop to the ground.**

 **But enough overhyping! Let's answer some reviews!:**

 **1) Nobody245:**

 *** Yes, they're _totally_ the same being...**

 *** Ronnie Anne is currently living with her grandparents, and Cristine moved out of his classroom after the events of Making the Picture... I think. You have a valid point about the rest of the girls, though, and I'll be sure to keep that in mind.**

 *** Besides, I can always just save them in case I decide to continue this story with something like a sequel, or prequel, or whatever.**

 **2) ChernoMan:**

 *** Yeah...**

 *** Neither do I. In fact, I probably have like over a dozen story ideas. But, not only are some of those ideas seemingly more fit for visual novels or something else, but, for some reason, I haven't been feeling like writing them. For context, the idea I mentioned? Probably on it's sixth or seventh rewrite.**

 *** Which one of those did you used to watch?**

 *** Hehe, got it.**

 *** That sounds dangerous.**

 *** I see, interesting.**

 *** Yeah, if Gemini isn't hiding stuff, they're blowing it right at someone's face and expecting them to just accept it. Sound familiar?**

 *** Lynn gives you a Walpurgisnacht vibe? How so? I don't think she floats around upside down laughing maniacally as she corrupts the entire reality to turn it into a performance. She might breath fire, though.**

 *** A new challenger has arrived!**

 *** Right here, right now, presumably.**

 *** Bop!**

 *** What running gag?**

 *** Hmm, I see your point. I think I wanted to do that, but either time constraints or another reason prevented me from doing so.**

 *** Yes, a joke. It was totally not foreshadowing in any way, shape, or form.**

 **And now, to the chapter!**

* * *

Back where we left off, Dana's laughter echoed around the area as a very dark purple mist came out of Dana's location, then spread around, absorbing any cores of darkness that came across its path.

This included the cores that the sisters were about to destroy.

"What the heck!" Luan exclaimed as she and Luna reunited. "Where did this mist come from?!"

"I don't know, but from the looks of it, its absorbing the cores of darkness into itself!" Luna replied as she looked at the expanding mist. "Let's go to a rooftop and see how far its spreading!"

The comedian nodded, and the duo promptly jumped to the highest rooftop they could find... where they found the rest of the active sisters, all looking at the mist enveloping the entire city of Royal Woods.

And they weren't the only ones, since Becky and Girl Jordan were also around in another rooftop, watching the enveloping mist.

"This thing's spreading like crazy!" Becky remarked as she looked at the mist with complete shock. "Sooner or later, it's going to take over the entire town!"

Girl Jordan, meanwhile, looked at thing with a horrified, but calm look, almost as if she had prior knowledge of this before...

 ** _Meanwhile, with Mr. and Mrs. Loud..._**

The parents watched in shock as a large "WARNING!" siren blared in the laboratory, with the message also appearing on the screens, with the image of Royal Woods being slowly covered in the mist appearing behind it.

"What the heck is going on?!" Lynn Sr. asked as he and his wife stood up. "Royal Woods is being covered in a purple mist, but why?!"

"Whatever the case may be, we need to tell the girls to get back here!" Rita stated, getting a nod of approval from her husband. "It's one thing for them to face the Shadows, but this is something completely different!"

" _We're afraid that would do more harm than good._ "

The parents turned around, and upon seeing a familiar sight, they said in unison:

"It's you..."

 ** _Royal Woods School..._**

Mrs. Johnson looked through her classroom's window as the mist started covering the playgrounds, and were gathering at the city square, forming a purple sphere of energy. While she watched that with a stern look, her students were quick to panic:

" _What's going on?!_ "

" _I'm scared!_ "

" _Is school cancelled or what?!_ "

"Everybody, calm down!" Mrs. Johnson snapped at the students. "Right now, you should all exit the school, and head straight back to your houses! Take a Lux Aura with you just in case something happens!"

"Alright, everybody heard the teacher!" Clyde stated as he stood up and got everybody's attention. "Head to the exit as fast as you can! If any of you are Lux Auras, activate your powers or whatever and escort everybody to a safe spot!"

The students nodded, and the available Lux Auras, who turned out to be all the girls in the classroom, transformed and helped guide everybody to their homes, or at least a safe spot, while Mrs. Johnson went to the entrance to the school and reached for her pen in her hair.

"To think, I just had to become a Lux Aura the day something insane like this happened," Mrs. Johnson remarked as she took off the pen. "I didn't even get a chance to practice whatever powers I have!"

The woman took a closer look at the pen, and saw that at the tip of the pencil's sharpened end was the white cube she could use to transform. She then glanced back at the purple sphere, and got her resolve.

"Well, no point in arguing about it now," the woman took the white cube. "I'll just have to light it up and go!"

And so, she transformed...

 ** _Meanwhile, back at the Loud House..._**

"Huh, looks like there'll be some stormy weather today," Leni remarked as she looked outside through the window, seemingly oblivious to the spherical development present in the distance. "That's a shame, I was hoping we could go out for a picnic later."

Lucy, meanwhile, wasn't so oblivious. "Don't you see the purple sphere enveloping at the city square?!"

"Well, it's at the city square, and our house is far away from that spot," Leni argued with a shrug. "Do you really think I'd be able to, like, see it from here?"

Just to humor the goth, the fashionista turned around, and the purple sphere was among the things she sotted. Seeing Lucy was right, Leni took a deep breath and said, with a calm tone:

"Dang it."

" _Indeed!_ "

The trio turned around, and saw Gemini running into the room, with Mr. and Mrs. Loud following behind him.

"Gemini, it's you!" Leni chirped while Lucy and Lily smiled at the creature's return. "It's been, like, forever since we last saw you!"

" _We're happy to see you too, but we're afraid we don't have time for reunions!_ " the creature answered worriedly as they walked up to Lily and grabbed her white cube. " _Something very bad is about to happen, and I need all three of you to join the rest of your sisters!_ "

"Why?" Lucy asked as Lily transformed.

"Yeah, like, what's going to happen?" Leni questioned as the creature turned to look at her. "I mean, I see the sphere in the distance, but-"

"Leni, I know you're oblivious to what's happening around you, and it's usually charming," Lynn Sr. said, with his wife nodding in agreement. "But I'm afraid this isn't the time for that, sweetheart."

The fashionista looked elsewhere and frowned with an irritated look. "Can you get to the point?"

"You three need to power up and help the rest of your sisters contain that thing, sphere, whatever it is," Rita stated. "Lynn and I'll keep an eye on everything and keep you posted."

Lucy and Leni exchanged looks, nodded, and promptly transformed before they left with Lily and Gemini to join the rest of the sisters.

 ** _Speaking of Them..._**

The sisters gathered at a rooftop above the sphere, just as some cracks started appearing on the sphere's surface.

"Looks like that thing's starting to crack," Lola promptly cracked her whip. "Should we launch some attacks at it, or-?"

"We can't do anything yet, girls," Lori sighed, looking firmly at the sphere. "We have no idea how this thing works, or even what it is. The best option we have right now is see what happens next-"

And then, a bunch of arrows were shot at the sphere, and they blinked twice before they collectively blew up in a large explosion, though it wasn't large enough to cover the whole object. And of course, there was only one person that could've shot those kind of arrows.

Who, coincidentally, was standing nearby, with Becky by her side.

"You again?!" Lori snapped as the rest of the sisters glared at the girl. "Just what do you think you're doing!?"

"My job!" Girl Jordan snapped back. "It's a Lux Aura's duty to protect Royal Woods, and I don't see you lifting a finger to try deal with that thing!"

"We can't act reckless, like you, against a thing we have no knowledge about!" Lori argued back, pointing her spear at the sphere as the explosion dissipated, showcasing the hole left behind. "Who knows what that thing's gonna do now that you've attacked it!"

And then, the ground shook, seemingly heralding the sphere's retaliation to Girl Jordan's attack. However, after a couple seconds, the hole slowly contorted and morphed until it resembled a door.

One that looked like a heart, in fact.

"Well, that's neat, I guess," Lola remarked as she and the rest of the team jumped down and inspected the door. "Why would it resemble a door

"More importantly, why wouldn't this thing heal itself and close the hole instead?" Luan pondered out loud as Lori took the closest look out of the sisters. "The cores did that whenever they were exposed and weren't taken out fast enough, and judging by all the cores it absorbed, it should have their "powers" but at an even greater rate."

"There's logic in what you say, Luan..." Lori scratched her chin. "But perhaps, this thing works differently than the cores, despite absorbing them?"

"Well, one thing's for certain: Looks like Girl Jordan's attack gave us an opening to go inside," Luna remarked as she looked at the entrance. "We should thank her for this, right?"

"Thank me for doing your job later," Girl Jordan sternly stated as she and Becky walked into the sphere's interior. "Right now, there's a new phenomenon to take down."

"I hate to say it, but the little archer's right," Becky remarked, throwing a shrug at Lori. "We should take this chance to go inside and get rid of it before something else happens."

First Luan, then Becky, Lori couldn't help but see logic and reason in the answers given to her. So she took a deep breath, nodded in agreement, and walked through the door, entering the sphere's "body" as Leni, Lucy, and Gemini appeared at the scene, and with little time to explain, they leaped inside, with the door slamming shut soon after.

"Oh, so now it decides to close the door," Luan said, before she looked around. "Anyway, let's see how this looks li-"

However, what the girls saw was beyond even their own words:

The interior of the sphere resembled a crystallized version of a grassfield, with mirror-like... gem-things on the "walls" of the sphere, reflecting the light and bathing the field in a rainbow of colors, while the cores of darkness floated motionless on the sky, seemingly acting like clouds.

Somehow, the Lux Auras weren't affected by the shower of colors, however.

"What the heck is this place?!" Luan exclaimed.

"I'm sure Gemini can, like, explain that," Leni said as she and the girls stood up.

Hearing Leni's voice, the Loud sisters turned around to face the quartet, and saw that the fashionista was carrying Gemini on her arms. However, while most of them were glad to see the creature return, Luna and Luan were less than ecstatic.

"Where the heck did you go this past week?!" Luna snapped at the creature. "We've had to deal with the cores of darkness on our own since you left!"

"We were worried sick about you!" Luan added. "If you had left a note or something telling us you'd come back, it would've been fine, but you just up and vanished like nothing!"

" _We're sorry to be the bearer of bad news: But you can't expect us to be there all the time, our only purpose is to swallow the cubes so Shadows aren't given a chance to be reborn,_ " Gemini explained with a regretful tone. " _So, with no Shadows to destroy, and thus no Cubes of Darkness to swallow, I really have no reason to be there._ "

"Seriously? That's your best excuse?" Girl Jordan growled at the furry entity. "You vanish for a week, give the Loud sisters a panic attack, and your only justification is that you thought you weren't needed!?"

Seeing no point in arguing with Girl Jordan, the creature turned to the sisters, lowered their head and explained:

" _Girls, believe us, the last thing we want to do is fill you with anxiety or worry, but this... thing, is something you only have faced off before, and even then it took all of you working together in order to take it down!_ "

"Something we've only faced off once before?" Lori repeated, only to quickly get an idea. "You mean that this thing is literally similar to the Flip monster?"

" _Yeah, but we're afraid it's even stronger,_ " Gemini nodded sadly. " _It might be because of the cores of darkness it absorbed before creating its shadow zone._ "

"Shadow zone?" Luna repeated. "Isn't that something you should've told us about before we came here?"

" _There's only so much we can tell you depending on what's relevant at the moment,_ " Gemini sighed. " _And unfortunately, quite a lot of it is relevant now._ "

"Then speak up, furhead!" Girl Jordan hissed as she aimed one of her arrows at Gemini. "If you know what's good for you, that is!"

Suddenly, a pair of needles tied with strings grabbed Girl Jordan's bow and arrows and pulled them towards the user: Leni, who put them as she said:

"There's, like, no need to get violent, Girl Jordan."

"Wait, so you're the Girl Jordan the sisters were talking about?" Becky aksed the girl, earning an "are you serious?" from not only her, but the sisters as well. "Yeah, judging by your attitude, I guess I should've figured it out on my own."

"No need to get violent?! This little.. fur-covered nutjob kept a lot of important information from us from the instant we turned into Lux Auras!" Girl Jordan snapped at Leni, who stood her ground. "And now we're facing something most of us haven't heard of before, which could've been avoided if they had just been honest from the start!"

Leni raised an eyebrow. "How are you so sure about that?"

Girl Jordan took a step back at the sudden question, trying her hardest to think of an answer before Lucy suddenly exclaimed:

"That's doesn't matter! We need to find the core of this thing, or its source, or whatever, and destroy it before it tries to destroy the city!"

" _It's, sadly, still incubating._ "

Hearing that unfamiliar, yet threatening voice, everybody turned around and saw the shadowy creature from before falling down, then landing right on their feet as everybody got ready to fight, just in case it did something.

" _It's you!_ " Gemini said, almost jumping out of Leni's arms in the process.

"You know who that is, Gemini?" Leni inquired with a raised eyebrow.

" _They're the ones responsible for the cores of darkness existing in the first place!_ " Gemini explained, looking firmly at the shadowy creature. " _And thus, the one responsible for creating the shadows!_ "

The creature jumped off Leni's arms and looked at the creature as it revealed their name:

" _Divisu!_ "

The girls gasped as the creature's pitch black body gained flames around it, which dispersed soon after to reveal it looked almost exactly like Gemini, except its ears were connected to its neck like a collar, it had golden eyes, a black body, and a white square on its back.

"Wait a minute... Geminis Divisus... That's how Gemini introduced themselves to me on my dream," Lily remarked, getting everybody's attention. "So, what, is this Divisu like a split personality or Shadow version of Gemini or something?"

Divisu then slowly turned to Lily, and stared at the girl as they said:

" _It's a pleasure to meet you at last, Lily Loud. I hope you've been having a fun time as a Lux Aura._ "

Lily took a step back as Luna came to a shocking realization:

"Not only can it talk, but it uses singular pronouns!"

Then they quickly snapped to face Girl Jordan. " _And it's also a pleasure to see you again, Girl Jordan._ "

"See me again?! I've never seen you before!" the girl growled at them.

Divisu tilted their head. " _Have you, now?_ "

The question brought even more doubt to the girl, who started remembering the times she met Gemini before becoming a Lux Aura. Then, she remembered that the Gemini in her flashback used singular pronouns:

" _ **My** name is Geminis Divisus, but you can call me Gemini. And the reason **I** know who you are, Girl Jordan, is because **I** need to know the name of every citizen of Royal Woods in order to know who to go to when the Shadows appear._

" _ **I** told you that you wouldn't find him there._"

" _That, **I** can't say. However, **I** can say that **I** can help you keep Royal Woods safe until Lincoln and Lisa eventually return._"

" _How do **I** put this in a way you'll understand?_"

" _ **I** told you that you could stop Royal Woods from being destroyed before the ones called Lincoln and Lisa returned._"

" _And leave Royal Woods with one less defender? **I'm** afraid **I** can't let that happen, Girl Jordan._"

But that the Gemini right here, right now, was using plural pronouns.

"W-Wait a minute," Girl Jordan slowly narrowed her eyes. "So, the Gemini that I met..."

The girl pointed at Divisu, who tilted their head back and nodded as they said:

" _It was a pleasure to have you join the Auras._ "

Now truly furious at the creature, Girl Jordan snatched her bow and arrows from Leni and promptly shot a barrage of arrows at the creature, who jumped away and ran as the girl continued to shoot at the creature.

As they ran, however, the Loud sisters got into action and tried to stop the entity: First by Lori trying to impale it on the ground, then by Lynn trying to squash it with her gauntlets, Lola grabbing it with her whip then sending it flying through:

Lana, who slashed it, Luan, who swung a pie at its face, Luna, who swung her axe downwards, Lily, who tried hitting it upwardly with her mace, and finally Lucy, who jumped and swung her scythe as hard as she could.

Alas, besides Lily's upward swing the creature simply dodged or turned into an immaterial, shadow form, and ran away from each attack.

All while some of Girl Jordan's arrows blew up on them.

" _If you really think you'll get anywhere by fighting me, then I'm afraid things are hopeless for you,_ " Divisu answered as they landed on the ground and scratched their ear, their tone soundling slightly condescending. " _Not only am I at a much higher level than you could hope to be, but your real focus should be-_ "

Suddenly, Gemini flew to and tackled Divisu, causing both creatures to suddenly ricochet off the wall and bounce all over the place, making squeaky toy noises every time they hit something.

It wasn't until Leni used her needles and strings to knit a platform that the duo finally stopped bouncing, and separated, with Gemini catching their breath as Divisu sternly got up.

" _It's one thing to interrupt me in the middle of a "fight._ "

Divisu was surrounded by a purple aura.

" _It's another thing. To interrupt me. **While I'm doing my monologue!**_ "

Gemini flinched. " _Leni, now!_ "

The girl nodded and quickly knitted a barrier around the duo, trapping them inside and causing Divisu's aura to dissipate as the creature looked around.

" _Your fight will be with us and us alone, Divisu!_ " Gemini stated, stomping the ground with one paw. " _We don't know what you did to create an Eclipsa, nor who you used as a host, but we're not letting you hurt everybody anymore!_ "

" _What I did? Oh please, if anything,_ " Divisu turned to look at the ground, precisely at Girl Jordan and Becky.. " _You should be asking what those two did!_ "

Everybody turned to face Becky and Girl Jordan, who were shocked at being especifically called out, giving the creature enough time to explain themselves:

" _One of them utterly crushed the host's hopes, dreams, and optimism by throwing the harsh reality at her face, and the other not only allowed the former to do that, but also ignored her own feelings of insecurity and uneasiness towards the matter._ "

Divisu crouched down and chuckled:

" _Isn't that right, Becky?!_ "

As the teenage Lux Aura took a step back, shocked at the fact the creature knew her name, the entire area... pulsated, with the color vanishing and turning black and white as a giant sphere manifested in the ceiling, and a spherical pillar sprouted from the center of the place.

And as the sphere slowly went down to the pillar, and the sisters got ready to attack it, the walls suddenly cracked, with clones of Becky, also sporting no color besides black and white, jumped out of the "windows" and ran up to the team, attacking them as a voice echoed in the background:

" _B... E... C... K... Y..._ "

" _What you're seeing is the birth of something much greater than a mere Shadow, and greater than a Lux Aura,_ " the creature remarked as more Becky clones came out of the walls. " _You're seeing the creating of a Lux Aura whose very light has been obscured by the darkness hidden deep inside her mind, her body, her very being._ "

The giant mirror yarn ball hit the massive alter, causing the ground to shake as the Loud sisters, Girl Jordan, and Becky tried to fight the clone Beckies, which did nothing to stop Divisu's monologuing:

" _You're witnessing as the Shadow that would emerge from a core of darkness blossoms inside a Lux Aura candidate, and feeds on the candidate's negative feelings, growing and growing until the Shadow completely overcomes and absorbs the candidate's light into itself._ "

After a while, and some shattered clones, the yarn ball got a couple cracks on it, before shattering completely in an explosion that sent the shards flying into the walls.

" _You're seeing the birth... of an Eclipse._ "

Soon afterwards, the explosion dissipated to reveal what had been inside the yarn ball:

It was a massive cat-like creature, only instead of having a normal skin and fur, it was completely made out of reflective mirror, reflecting the light all over the place and returning the color to the eldritch location, as it opened its big, literal-emerald-eyes and looked down at the group as a subtitle appeared underneath them:

 **-Eclipse of Envy, Othello-**

And once they looked at Becky, their gem eyes turned red as they stood up and roared as hard as they could, shaking the whole place once more.

"So, this thing's an eclipse, huh?" Luna asked as she swung her axe to a Becky clone, cutting it in half. "I gotta say, it looks quite different compared to Flip's eclipse."

Divisu couldn't quite remark on the statement, since Gemini was currently fighting them inside Leni's string barrier. However, this did give the team the chance to take care of the clones with no obnoxious commentary as they did...

Except for Becky, who looked disturbed at a clone she was struggling with, before Luna came in and swung it in half.

"What's wrong, Becky?" Luna asked as the redhead returned to reality.

"I-I don't get it, why would calling my name summon these clones of me?" Becky asked, before she gripped her sword and slashed an incoming clone to bits. "I-In fact, why do the clones take my form in the first place?"

"Hey, in case you two haven't noticed, we have some clones to take care of!" Girl Jordan snapped at the duo. "Less existential questions, more fighting!"

"I hate to say it, but she's got a point: These clones aren't going to _crack a smile_ on their own," Luan quipped, only to then turn her attention to the eclipse. "Although, I feel like we should do something about that giant mirror cat too."

Hearing that, Lori turned to look at the giant cat, and noticed something odd about it. "Now that you mention it, that thing doesn't seem to be doing anything of its own. Then again, it looks kinda fat."

"Maybe they're too scared to try fighting us on our own or something?" Lana suggested as she cut a clone to pieces. "That would explain why they're just watching the Becky clones try to kill us from a distance."

"Then we should use this as a chance to try and destroy it," Luna stated, with the rest of the sisters nodding in agreement. "But I doubt it's going to be as easy as that."

Girl Jordan hummed, then aimed one of her arrows at the creature and shot it at Othello, with the cat barely paying attention as the arrow hit the arrow and stuck to it. However, as it blinked once, the arrow was absorbed, and the cat flinched and curled up, causing several explosive arrows to come out of its body.

The arrows blinked twice as they started descending, and blinked one more time before they beeped as they headed for the ground, exploding as soon as they came into contact with it.

Luckily, while the sisters, Becky, and Girl Jordan managed to dodge most of the arrows, the clones weren't so lucky, being wiped out in an instant.

"Well, that didn't work as well as _you_ probably expected!" Lily stated as she caught her breath.

"Impossible! I need to shot another arrow to split my explosive arrows in order to do my arrow rain!" Girl Jordan pointed out in the middle of catching her breath. "How can that thing just shot out the same technique with only one arrow!?"

"Whatever the case may be, can we all agree projectiles are out of the question?" "We may need to focus only on physical attacks for now-"

Then, the other sisters with blunt weapons-Lori, Lynn, and Luna-jumped as high as they could and tried to hit the monster. Though they were able to hit it and cause little cracks on its body, Othello simply swiped them away, with the cracks healing themselves soon after.

Shortly after that, Leni wrapped Lily with her strings and spun around before she threw her at the cat, with Lily slamming her mace down at the creature's body once she came close, then hitting the "wall" before she was swiped back to Leni's arms.

Sadly, while Lily's crack took a little longer to heal, it healed completely nonetheless.

"Okay, so the greater the crack, the longer it takes to heal," Leni remarked as she gently put Lily on the ground. "In that case, we, like, need to deliver a physical attack so strong, it'll totes surpass that thing's recovery!"

"But how do we do that?!" Becky exclaimed, as her clones came out of the walls. "My clones are keeping everybody occupied!"

"There's more of them?" Leni asked, raising an eyebrow and scratching her chin.

Then, as if things weren't going crazy enough, everybody heard a drilling sound coming from the top, with the sound getting louder as a small hole was opened, and a spinning drill-like aura flew down and hit Othello for a brief moment, before it bounced off and started spinning around the battlefield, dealing with the clones it came across.

Soon after, when all the clones had been shattered, the aura stopped spinning, which revealed they were Mrs. Johnson sporting a crimson, full-body knight suit, with the only uncovered part of her body being her head.

"Mrs. Johnson?!" Luan exclaimed as the woman stretched a bit. "How did you get that armor?!"

"Let's just say your little furry friend convinced me to turn into a Lux Aura to give you a hand," the redheaded woman answered. "Although, according to them, it seems I turned into a Lux Knight, rather than a Lux Aura."

"Lux Knight, got it," Girl Jordan rolled her eyes. "I'll be sure to add that to the list of things Gemini " forgot" to tell us."

And then Leni and Liky ran up to the woman. "Mrs. Johnson!"

"Leni and... Lily, right?" the woman crouched down and took a closer look at the younger girl. "So, a Lux Aura ages up depending on how young they are, huh?"

"Oh please, don't fall for that nonsense!" Girl Jordan snapped.

"Mrs. Johnson, we need your help in order to destroy that mirror-cat-thing! And to do that, we need to hit it hard enough its mirror body can't heal itself!" Lily explained as Leni created a higher platform with her strings.

Mrs. Johnson smiled with confidence. "I think I get where you're going with this."

A coyple minutes later, Leni finished sewing the platform, and Lily and Mrs. Johnson jumped up towards, briefly catching the creatures' interest before they resumed their fight.

Once at the highest platform, Mrs. Johnson spun around and Lily tightly gripped her mace before the two jumped off, gaining speed as Othello licked their paws, oblivious to the incoming assault.

Eventually, Mrs. Johnson and Lily stopped spinning and launched a kick, and swung her mace down respectiveky, hitting the body hard enough to make the cat hiss in pain, as the attacks pierced its body...

Its seemingly hollow body.

And rather than heal, the cracks started spreading across the feline.

With the attack proving to be strong enough, Othello's mirror fur-skin-hide-whatever started to crack as Lily flashed a smile and a thumbs up to the sisters, who were celebrating the apparent victory.

Becky and Girl Jordan weren't as enthusiastic, however, as they looked at the cracking cat with steady looks, something that worried the girl.

Mrs. Johnson wasn't enthusiastic either, as she turned to Lily and with a stern look stated:

"Stay focused, Mrs. Loud, this isn't over yet!"

Lily, slightly shocked at this lack of celebration, nonetheless nodded with determination and looked back at the mirror cat as its body finally shattered, causing the duo to fall down at the altar, and into the smoke cloud left behind. However, inside the cloud, they weren't able to see clearly if there was anything inside the mirror cat besides an unusual load of dust.

And then a punch came out of nowhere and aimed for Lily, with Mrs. Johnson blocking it at the last moment... which didn't change the punch from having enough strength to send the duo flying out of the smoke cloud.

And as they hit the ground, the shadowy figure inside the cloud moved their arms close to each other, then swiped them apart, sending the dust flying away, and revealing their true form to the teams, and the creatures.

The figure was none other than Dana, sporting crystal cat ears, a long crystal tail coming from her back, and a purple bodysuit with green highlights.

Then, as she opened her glowing golden eyes and flashed a confident smirk, Becky's eyes widened and she shouted:

"Dana?!"

"This Dana you're mentioning is not here right now," the girl answered, shaking her head. "You're talking with her stronger counterpart..."

The girl spread her arms wide again, and proclaimed with a sadistic look:

"Iago!"


	8. Episode IV: Eclipsed (Part 2)

**And now we give you the second part of the fourth episode, also known as the one where stuff seriously hits the fan.**

 **I don't really have much to say, except that we're officially one-third done with the story. And with that in mind, from this third so far, are you enjoying the story?**

 **And now, the reviews!:**

 **1) Nobody245:**

 *** Don't you mean who you distrust more?**

 *** Yeah, I mean, it's the easiest way to tell them apart from the Shadows.**

 **2) ChernoMan:**

 *** Miraculous! Simply the best! Up to the test, when magic's done!**

 *** I see. Let's test your resolve, then.**

 *** I've made several different verses: Hexwhere, a universe based on magic, a universe based on sci-fi, one on an island inhabitted by half-human half-animal creatures... the list goes on, really.**

 *** Ah, I see.**

 *** You know, the thing you said.**

 *** Me neither, I guess I should be more specific next time I call something "interesting," right? XD**

 *** Ah, I see, that running gag. Got it.**

 *** Curse my creator-sized brain! XD**

 *** I never said the low stamina would come up during the Eclipse fight.**

 **And now, for the review proper:**

 *** Containment field, really.**

 *** Sadly, yes.**

 *** We'll see more of her here.**

 *** I guess you could say she's... a cinnamon roll?**

 *** Interestingly enough, the concept never came across my mind during the creation of that zone.**

 *** ...Goddamit, Gemini!**

 *** That's not even a word and I agree with ya!**

 *** Adorable and cathartic.**

 *** Now where did that come from? ;)**

 *** No, she's the one with the spear, Agnes has no spear.**

 *** Envy. Didn't you read the subtitle?**

 *** And now we're at the second half of episode four. Let's see how you can hold up after this insanity.**

 **And now, to the chapter!**

* * *

Back where we left off, Dana-now calling herself Iago-lowered her arms and flashed a confident grin as a subtitle appeared under her:

 **\- True Eclipse of Envy, Iago -**

"To think that a small girl was hiding inside the giant cat," Luna remarked. "Who could've thought it wouldn't be over as soon as the body was destroyed?"

"Well, If we're talking videogame terms, it was literally to be expected," Lori answered as she gripped her spear. "After all, a boss is never defeated in one phase unless it's the first one!"

"Hmph, it seems that there's at least one person in this entire room that has some common sense," Iago narrowed her eyes. "Very well, I shall test you first before I test everybody else!"

The girl leaped from her post and tried to swing her claws at Lori, only for the girl to dodge at the last moment and try to strike the girl with her spear, which Iago effortlessl dodged as she jumped and landed right back at Lori.

The oldest Loud sister, however, quickly turned around and blocked Iago's incoming attack with the pole of her spear, giving her enough time to realize something rather surprising:

Iago now had a spear similar to her own.

"When did you get a spear as well?!" Lori exclaimed as she struggled against the cat-like Eclipse.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" was Iago's smug answer.

And as the fight between the two continued, everybody else dealt with the Becky clones, except for Becky herself, who looked at the Eclipse with a horrified look, while barely maintaining a grip on her sword.

"Dana, what happened to you?" the redhead asked herself, lowering her eyelids. "Did that black furry thing turned you into this?"

Suddenly, one of Becky's clones tried to cut the redhead in half, only to be drilled in half by Mrs. Johnson's spinning attack.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Mrs. Johnson snapped at the redhead. "We've got an Eclipse and a bunch of clones to fight, you know?! Standing still won't get any results!"

"I-I can't fight the Eclipse!" Becky shook her head and lowered her head. "That Eclipse was made from my friend! If I destroyed it, who knows what could happen to Dana herself!"

"Well, if you can't find the big girl herself, then at least fight the small fry!" Mrs. Johnson suggested before she nonchalantly shattered a clone's head with a fist. "After all, they might be you, but they're non-human enough that the difference is pretty obvious."

With that said, the woman jumped off to help fight the clones elsewhere, leaving Becky alone to decide what to do.

Meanwhile, over with the sisters, most of them managed to fend off the clones, until one of them managed to swing its blade at Lily and send her flying with one strike, only to be destroyed by one of Girl Jordan's arrows afterwards.

"You know, for osmeone who introduced herself trying to kill our sister," Luna remarked as she turned her attention to the girl. "Helping her out was the last thing I'd expect you to do!"

"Why wouldn't I try to help you?! You're the most experienced Lux Auras I know, even though that's not saying much!" Girl Jordan sternly answered. "As soon as you're out, then it's game over for everyone."

Luna gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes before she turned her attention back on the clones, while Lily approached the archer and asked:

"How's your bow and arrow, Girl Jordan?"

"I used a lot of my special arrows during the hunt for cores of darkness," the girl answered as she checked her remaining arrows. "I don't have many of the special ones left: Some explosive ones, smoke bombs, and so on."

"What about your ordinary arrows?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "Do you have any of those left?"

"I do, but they're below average in nearly everything," Girl Jordan said as she took out one of those arrows, a simple grey one. "They certainly don't feel like they have enough power to finish them off."

Then, as she took a closer look, Girl Jordan added, "In fact, they don't feel like they'd do any damage at all..."

Lily also took a closer look at the arrows, but while the archer herself didn't see anything particular about them, Lily saw they were enveloped in a very dark purple aura, one that was emanating a threatening presence around them.

And then a Becky clone jumped out of nowhere and swung her sword, with the girls narrowly dodging the strike before Girl Jordan used the normal arrow to shatter it to pieces.

"Well, it seems that it works against the clones just fine," the archer stated as she loaded up another arrow. "The Eclipse might be trouble, but at least this thing's not entirely useless."

"Yeah, you might want to use them sparingly, though," Lily suggested with a concerned look. "I saw something strange about them."

"Really? They looked perfectly normal to me," Girl Jordan remarked. "But what the heck, I might as well humor you until things get really dire."

And so, the archer jumped forward to help with the rest of the clones, with Lily trying to get her attention only for another clone to pop up and clash with her mace.

As this happened, the battle between Lori and Iago eventually crossed into another power struggle, though Lori's exhaustation made things a bit more towards Iago's favor.

"So, tell me, how does it feel to face something that actually fights back?" Iago inquired as she slowly started overpowering Lori. "Because from what the black furry creature told me, the cores of darkness were complete pushovers."

Lori, however, got the upper hand and swung her spear, forcing Iago to back away as she sternly answered:

"Just because the cores of darkness don't pose much of a challenge, doesn't mean we're literally defenseless against an actual threat!"

"Well, the fact you're still standing after fighting me for a while does prove that for you," Iago smirked. "But what about the _rest_ of your sisters?"

Before Lori could question what she meant, the girl created a mirror underneath her and went through it. She jumped out of another wall where Lynn and Lucy were nearby, and she quickly made work of them before she went through another mirror-portal, and did the same to most of the remaining sisters.

Luckily, though, she also destroyed the Becky clones that got in her way.

As for Leni, as soon as Iago tried to stab her, the girl stepped to the side and snapped her fingers, summoning strings from nowhere that caught and bounded the Eclipse to the ceiling.

" _Good work, Leni!_ " Gemini chirped in the middle of their fight with Divisu. " _Now finish her off before she tries anything else!_ "

Leni summoned a pair of needles and got ready to cut loose against Iago, but the girl opened her eyes wide, and one of the Becky clones' eyes glew as it looked at Lucy as she summoned her scythe.

Iago promptly summoned a replica of the scythe, and used it to cut herself free from the strings. But before she could hack Leni to bits, Mrs. Johnson jumped from nowhere and tackled the Eclipse, sending her crashing right into the crystal wall.

"So that's what she does," the redhead said as she hit the ground. "She sees a Lux Aura's weapon, then copies it and uses it as her own!"

Iago quickly regained her composure, however, and jumped right towards Mrs. Johnson, with the redheaded woman barely reacting quickly enough to block the incoming swing from the scythe.

"I'm surprised that out of all the Lux Auras present in this area, it's the one that's barely been formed today that managed to figure out my weapon," Iago scoffed as she tightened her grip. "Unless, of course, you happen to be something other than a Lux Aura?"

Mrs. Johnson, not being one to give in to those kind of statements, simply rolled her eyes and gathered enough strength to lift the girl and throw her away. Iago, however, simply used the crystal wall as a portal to get close to the woman again, and try to cut her to bits, yet again.

And yet again, Mrs. Johnson blocked the attacks, this time ending it with a strike directly at the scythe, shattering it to bits.

"Dana, stop!"

Upon hearing that, Iago turned her attention towards the one who said: Becky, who gripped her sword nervously as she said:

"L-Listen, I know you were pretty upset, but turning into an Eclipsa is too far!" the redhead added. "I know there has to be another way we can deal with this! So please, if you're still there, put an end to this!"

Iago, however, chuckled, and jumped down from her position, landing right on her feet as she said:

"What do you know about Dana's feelings, huh? Let me tell you what you know: Absolutely _nothing_. You thought you knew your supposed "best friend" better than anybody else. But the truth is, out of everybody in this room, you knew her the least."

"Dana, why are you talking as if you were another person?!" Becky asked as she took a step back. "C-Cut it out, this isn't funny!"

"And your ignorance was supposed to be funny?!" Iago exclaimed as she angrily reached the swordswoman. "That whenever you spat out how great it was to be a Lux Aura, it was supposed to be funny?"

Iago's spear turned into light, then reformed as a sword. "That whenever you left her alone to mope, and fester on her envy by her lonesome, was that supposed to be funny!?"

Becky raised an eyebrow as the girl leaped forward, shouting:

"That you shoved it on her face how you meant something and she didn't, was that! Supposed! To be funny!?"

The girls' swords clashed, with Becky greatly struggling against Iago's sword as she rebutted:

"I was never trying to be funny, Dana!"

"Stop calling me that!" Iago snapped. "The Dana you're talking about is gone!"

Iago overpowered Becky, threw her sword away in a swing, and raised her sword as she hissed:

"And you drove her away!"

Before Becky could be cut to pieces, though, a bunch of strings caught her and pulled her up to the higher platforms, with the redhead soon landing in Leni's arms.

"That was, like, pretty close!" Leni chirped. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am," Becky nodded, then turned to see Iago glaring at her. "But Dana isn't listening to me!"

"Well, I, like, think she's not going to answer until we kick her out of her Eclipse state," Leni answered with a concerned look. "But I mean, I think it's the first time any of us have faced something like her, so who knows, maybe your idea will eventually work?"

Becky smiled with a sense of hope, that was quickly cut short when Iago came out of a mirror and tried to hack both her and Leni to pieces. However, Leni quickly tied her up and suspended her in the air, though Iago's constant struggle made it clear Leni wouldn't be able to keep her in place forever.

"Okay, we need to do something fast!" Lily stated, with the rest of the sisters nodding in agreement. "But what can we do?"

The girl took a look at her surroundings, then spotted Girl Jordan looking at the sight.

"Girl Jordan!"

The girl turned to look at Lily as the aged-up toddler ran up to her and said:

"I got an idea, and I need your help!"

Girl Jordan raised an eyebrow with a baffled look.

Back with Iago, the Eclipse eventually freed herself from the strings and tried to reach for Leni, only for both her and Becky to jump out of the way as an unlikely duo then joined the fray: Lily and Girl Jordan.

"You again?!" Iago snapped at Girl Jordan. "Don't you think you've hurt Dana enough!?"

"I do," Girl Jordan answered as she prepared her bow and arrow. "And I'm planning to fix it!"

Just as Iago raised an eyebrow and questioned what the girl meant, an explosion happened at the arena where Gemini and Divisu were fighting, and Lily took the chance to strike Iago in the legs, stunning her as she exclaimed:

"Now, Girl Jordan!"

The archer shot the normal arrow right in front of Iago, hitting her square in the forehead as everybody reacted in shock, especially Becky, who extended her hand forward and exclaimed:

"Dana!"

And then Gemini and Divisu, watching from the platforms, looked at the sight.

" _Oh no!_ " Gemini exclaimed.

" _Ohohoho, yes!_ " Divisu chirped before they started jumping down the threads. " _Congratulations, Girl Jordan, now you've finally decided to do your job properly!_ "

"Do my job properly? What are you talking about?!" the archer snapped at the dark creature. "I just did the same thing I've been doing until now!"

" _Yes, you have,_ " Divisu giggled. " _But, there's a little bit more to it than that..._ "

Just as the girl pondered what the furry creature meant, Iago's laughter caught her attention, and the Eclipse promptly showed the girl what Divisu meant:

The arrow stuck in her forehead was surrounded by a dark purple aura, the same one Lily saw before in fact, and the aura burned the arrow to a crisp before it enveloped the girl in itself, covering her whole body.

Moments later, Iago's laughter started to sound crazier as her arms and legs were covered in a crystallized, reflective matter similar to a diamond, with the aura concentrating around those points as it dissipated into nothing, and the girl's new form was revealed.

It was more or less the same, besides the changes in the arms and legs, though.

" _Your arrows have a special attribute added to them, since you bonded with me,_ " Divisu explained as they walked towards the girl. " _You see, your normal arrows will do normal damage to anything other than a Shadow or an Eclipse. In their case..._ "

Suddenly, Divisu appeared right in front of Girl Jordan, and answered:

" _Your arrows will make them stronger._ "

Lily jumped forward and swung her mace down, but Divisu simply dodged it and went to Iago's side as they further explained:

" _A Lux Aura that bonds with Gemini has the purpose of fighting the Shadows I create, and furthermore, deal with their cores of darkness so that they don't become a problem in the first place. However, Lux Auras that bond with me have a different purpose: To help the Cores incubate into Shadows, and eventually create Eclipses!_ "

"So, wait a minute," Girl Jordan remarked, getting Lily's attention. "That time we allowed that core of darkness to reach its penumbra state-"

"They what?!" Luna exclaimed.

"It's a long story," Luan sheepishly answered.

" _You were doing the job you were supposed to do all along!_ " Divisu finished with a nod. " _And now that you've done the second half of your job, help an Eclipse get stronger, I can properly grade your progress. And what a surprise, you pass with flying colors!_ "

" _Don't listen to her!_ "

Lily looked up to see Gemini jumping down from the platforms, only for some Becky clones to come out of nowhere and grab them, subduing them with a bear hug in the process.

With them seemingly taken care of, Divisu continued:

" _Join forces with me, and stop wasting your time in the wrong side of the spectrum._ "

" _Don't listen to her, Girl Jordan!_ " Gemini exclaimed as they tried to free themselves from the clones' grasps. " _She's just trying to get into your head!_ "

"Dang it..."

Everybody turned to look at the one who said that: And who else would it be, but Girl Jordan?

"First, Lincoln and Lisa just disappear one day without warning. Then, these furry... things trick me into signing up for a job I never wanted. Then, the one girl I just so happened to insult transforms into this Eclipse, and now, you're telling me, that my normal arrows not only _don't_ damage the enemy, but empowers them!?"

The girl shed tears as she repeatedly pounded the ground. "It's not fair! It's simply not!"

" _Stop being a crybaby in front of the actual baby, geez,_ " Divisu stated as they shook their heads. " _I mean, come on, how much more of your dignity can you really lose at this point? Stop wallowing in self-pity and join me already!_ "

However, the girl didn't listen, she simply repeated "Dang it all!" over and over again, growing more and more vicious with each repeat.

Then, she opened her eyes, revealing they glew golden as she let out a titanic shout:

"Damn it all!"

Not only did Girl Jordan release a shock wave that caused the whole place to shake, and shattered all the Becky clones in an instant, but the girl was enveloped in a dark purple aura that engulfed her completely, leaving only a shadowy figure with golden pupils viisble inside.

" _Oh no, she's assuming her real form!_ " Gemini exclaimed.

"Her real form?!" Luna asked. "I thought her Lux Aura state was her real form!"

" _Well, you thought wrong, Loud siblings!_ " Divisu exclaimed. " _If Girl Jordan had bonded with Gemini, maybe she'd be a normal Lux Aura, but that isn't the case now, is it?_ "

The aura slowly started to vanish.

" _Now behold the true form of Girl Jordan, Loud sisters!_ " Divisu proclaimed. " _All along, you thought she was just a brooding Lux Aura, but in truth, she's the very antithesis of one!_ "

The aura dispersed, revealing Girl Jordan's clothing had turned black, with some pink highlights.

" _An Umbra Aura!_ " Divisu finished. " _Now, Girl Jordan, use the rest of your arrows to empower Iago, and help her destroy these Lux Auras!_ "

However, Girl Jordan immediately aimed their hand at Divisu, formed a "finger gun," and shot it repeatedly at them, somehow destroying several parts of the creature's body despite no visible ammo coming out of her fingerprints.

" _I-Impossible... I'm the master of the Umbra Auras!_ " Divisu said as they reformed their shot body parts with dark matter. " _How can you have the ability to resist my command!?_ "

Girl Jordan kept shooting at Divisu, who continued to regenerate as the girl kept shooting. Eventually, the creature took the form of a dark cloud and flew up, hissing:

" _That's it! If you wanna be a rebellious little brat, then go ahead! But don't think this is the last you'll see of me!_ "

Girl Jordan watched the creature fly away, then aimed her finger gun at Iago, who quickly jumped away and continually dodged the shots as Girl Jordan took out another "finger gun" and started shooting more rapidly.

"H-Hey, there, Girl Jordan, you should slow down!" Lucy remarked. "You might end up killing-"

Girl Jordan aimed one of her finger guns at Lucy and fired with a deadpan look, with the gothic Lux Aura narrowly dodging the bullet as everybody looked shocked at the girl, who calmly went back to aiming at Iago.

That is, until Mrs. Johnson dropped next to her and knocked her out with one kick, returning her back to her Lux Aura form in the process.

Now, with the gunslinger out of commission, Iago flashed a sadistic smile and lunged straight for Becky, ready to hack her to bits with her claws...

Only to stop as soon as Luan appeared in between them, arms spread wide.

"Luan, step out of the way!" Iago snapped.

"No! I'm not moving!" the comedian stated. "It's time to stop this, Dana!"

"First Becky and now you!?" Iago hissed. "I've already said it: Dana is not here, and you have Becky to thank for that! The one you're talking to is Iago!"

"Well, then I want you to tell Dana something!" Luan answered. "That turning into the very thing that the Lux Auras fight, and fight with her own friend, isn't going to solve anything!"

Iago opened her mouth, but then hesitated before she said:

"I know that!"

Everybody looked shocked at the statement as Iago's golden eyes turned back into Dana's natural, Brown eyes, and bemoaned:

"I know it won't fix anything... but I didn't want things to go this badly in the first place!"

"Go back inside!" Iago snapped, her eyes turning golden once again. "These people have hurt you long enough! If you come out, they'll hurt you all over again!"

"I don't want to stay inside!" Dana snapped, her eyes turning Brown as she took a step back and grabbed her head. "I don't want to stand still and watch the girl I... care about, die by my hands!"

"The same girl that turned you into this monstrosity?! That girl?!"

"Yes! That girl!"

"Wait, they really are two different people?" Luan asked, only to shake off the idea and shout, "Fight her off, Dana!"

The Eclipse continued to struggle with Dana as Becky looked at the and gripped her sword, which shivered as she asked:

"W-What do we do now?!"

" _You have to make her expel the core of darkness!_ " Gemini exclaimed. " _That's the only way you'll be able to get Dana back without killing her!_ "

"And how do we do that?!" Luan asked.

" _One of the Lux Auras has to get close and strike their weapon on her stomach!_ " Gemini further explained, turning their look towards the Loud sisters. " _That should take out the core of darkness right away!_ "

With that said, Luna summoned her axe, ran up to the Eclipse, and used the stick end of it to hit her right in the stomach, with the core of darkness phasing out of her back and into plain view, allowing Gemini to run up to it and swallow it.

As for Iago, the girl fell on her knees as dark purple energy came out of her, slowly transforming her back into Dana as she hit the ground.

"Dana!" Becky screamed as she ran up to the girl and lifted her. "I'm glad you're back to normal!"

However, the girl didn't respond.

"Dana?"

Becky shook the girl, but she still got no response.

"D-Dana, please, answer me!"

The location decided to answer in Dana's place, it seems, since everything started to shake violently soon after.

"Gemini, what's going on?!" Lily exclaimed.

" _An Eclipse's shadow zone only exists for as long as the Eclipse itself does!_ " the creature explained as it ran, then jumped up to Lily's shoulder. " _Because Iago was defeated, this place no longer has that link that allows it to exist!_ "

"Geez, I forgot how wordy you could be!" Lynn remarked in exasperation. "Can you get straight to the point?!"

" _This place is going to collapse!_ "

Crystal clear enough, everybody started to run away from the collapsing shadow zone, though Lily hesitated when she realized there was somebody missing.

It was Girl Jordan, who was laying on the ground.

So the aged-up toddler ran up to the girl, carried him, and ran out of the shadow zone just as it imploded, and vanished from existence, causing the morning sky to return soon afterwards.

"I'll go take Dana to the hospital!" Becky stated as she carried Dana in a bridal carry. "I wish you good luck with whatever happens next!"

With that said, Becky jumped off towards the hospital as the sisters promptly surrounded Mrs. Johnson.

"Thanks for the help back there," Luan said. "If you hadn't helped us back there, I don't know if we would've come out there alive."

"I wasn't of much help, though," Mrs. Johnson replied, scratching the back of her head with a little smile. "All I did was break in there, take Iago out of her shell, and knock out Jordan when she started going crazy."

"Now that you mention her," Lucy remarked before she turned to Lily. "How's she doing, Lily?"

The girl crouched down and laid her head on Girl Jordan's chest, hearing a heartbeat a few seconds later.

"Her vitals seem to be fine," she remarked, just in time for Girl Jordan to wake up. "I can't feel anything strange about them, either-"

Suddenly, Girl Jordan pushed Lily away and stood up, looking everywhere as she asked:

"W-What's going on?! Where are we?! What happened to the Eclipse?!"

And then, she asked one more question with a furious tone:

"What happened to Divisu!?"

" _I'm afraid she got away,_ " Gemini explained, getting everybody's attention. " _And soon after that, the Eclipse was taken care of thanks to the combined efforts of Luan and Lily._ "

Girl Jordan raised an eyebrow, and the creature soon added:

" _You were knocked out by Mrs. Johnson beforehand, and when the shadow zone was collapsing, Lily took the time to go back and take you out of there._ "

Girl Jordan, though grateful for the act, quickly let her anger takeover and shot a glare at the girl, snapping:

"Why did you bother to drag me out of there?! You heard the black Gemini copycat: My arrows empower Shadows and Eclipses! It would've been far more beneficial if you had just left me behind!"

"Mrs. Jordan, you may have a point there when talking about how, without your arrows, there wouldn't any potential way to empower the enemies," Mrs. Johnson stated sternly. "However, that's no excuse to be ungrateful for someone saving your life."

"Oh really? And what if that life could potentially endanger everybody in Royal Woods, huh? Would you save a life like that?!" Girl Jordan argued, which got a reaction from Lily. "Because-"

"I would."

Everybody turned around to see Lily looking at Girl Jordan with a determined look, which she kept as she elaborated:

"I mean, just because you _could_ endanger everybody in Royal Woods, doesn't mean you _have_ to."

The archer flinched, took a step back, then lowered her head before she turned away from the group.

"I'm going to need some time alone," Girl Jordan clenched her fists. "I need to be better prepared to destroy that Divisu with my bare hands!"

Lily frowned and folded her arms. "How will you do it if Divisu can just turn into a shadow and fly away?"

"Please, I created the explosive, winged, and other kinds of arrows I've been using until now," Girl Jordan answered with pride. "I'm sure I can create another type that'll help me get rid of them."

And with that made clear, Girl Jordan reached for her winged arrows, hit her shoes with it, and flew away while Lily looked at her leave with a concerned look.

"So, the first Lux Aura we fought turned out to be an Umbra Aura, with the power to empower the Shadows and Eclipses we're supposed to fight, huh?" Luna remarked as she walked to Lily's side. "I'm not one to promote murder and bad stuff like that, but maybe you should've left her to die in the shadow zone."

The sisters gasped in shock, and Gemini stared silently at the rockstar.

"Luna, like, what are you saying?!" Leni exclaimed. "And in front of Lily, no less!"

"You saw what happened when she shot her arrow at Iago: She made her stronger, and she was already difficult to deal with before that," Luna argued as she stood up and turned to her sisters. "And besides, there's no reason to believe we can trust her after what happened today: Sure, she helped us with the Eclipse, but she also found out her true purpose and unlocked her "real form" in a fit of rage."

"Well, you got a point, but still, saying someone should've died next to Lily just isn't cool," Lynn remarked.

"We can discuss this further at another time," Lori said, getting everybody's attention. "For now, we literally have to go back home and think about what to do next."

" _Think about what you can do next?_ " Gemini inquired, tilting their head. " _Well, besides making sure another Eclipse doesn't appear, wasn't there another goal you had in mind before this event happened?_ "

The sisters promptly remembered what the goal was, and while most of them exchanged determined smiles and nods, Luna turned to Lily and asked:

"You still remember what that is, right?"

Lily looked at the setting sun, and with a determined look, she nodded and answered:

"Find Lincoln and Lisa!"


	9. Episode V: Liberty

**Well, here's the start of episode five, and after this comes episode six, which, if I'm not bluffing even myself, is the middle point of the story.**

 **So obviously, this will be the calm before the spoilery, info-dumping storm!**

 **But seriously speaking, though, this time, the episode will act slightly more like a setup for the next one, as well as a little reminder of what has happened before, just to clarify a couple things.**

 **And also to put Girl Jordan through the wringer some more. Because as long as it's not Lily, it should be fine, right?**

 **Anyhow, to the reviews:**

 **1) Nobody245:**

 *** Exactly.**

 *** Well, she's thought to be the closest to Lily. Girl Jordan not only tried to injure Lily once, but has also been revealed to have dragged Lily into her experiment, and the fact that she's the opposite of a Lux Aura, that can empower Shadow and Eclipses. So, maybe Luna was trying to say they should leave her behind, but her words came out too strong.**

 **2) ChernoMan:**

 *** Yeah! A cute story for cute children!**

 *** Why my stories alone?**

 *** Like where?**

 *** Perhaps.**

 *** Yeah! Take that, Kyubey, you inspirational jerk! I'm too honest for my own good! XD**

 **And now, for the review proper:**

 *** Continuity!**

 *** Let me shoot my arrow through your heart...**

 *** Alas, master, that I cannot do. For I have no power, other than hiding clues.**

 *** Not something helpful, that's for sure.**

 *** Totally.**

 *** Yup, we're more than likely screwed... assuming we don't meed something even worse later down the line. ;)**

 *** I don't remember having said Lily's mace has spikes, but then again, that's probably my bad memory acting up. Anyway, let's say Luna decided to run ahead and deal the finishing blow before anything else happened.**

 *** Well, I had an idea to write a fanfic where Girl Jordan was transgender, so who knows...**

 *** Th-th-t-t-tha-tha-t-t-that's all f-f-folks!**

 *** Let that be a lesson both you and I learned today.**

 *** True, true...**

 *** See ya...**

 **And now, to the chapter!**

* * *

A week had passed since the Eclipse incident, and most of Royal Woods decided to enjoy the peace. The Lux Auras continued to deal with the cores of darkness like usual, the citizens stayed out of danger and enjoyed their lives, everything looked fine for everybody.

Unless, of course, you were one of the Louds.

Since deciding to shift their goals from "Destroy cores of darkness like every other Lux Aura" to "Find Lincoln and Lisa at all costs," the sisters decided to leave the cores of darkness to the other dozen plus Lux Auras in the vicinity, and focus on searching for clues.

Sadly, though, they didn't seem to be having much luck.

"Alright, in this week, we've checked Aloha Beach, Gus' Games and Grub, the Dairy Land amusement park, the mountains, and almost every other location we know of Royal Woods," Lola recapped with a tired sigh. "And we still haven't found Lincoln, or Lisa, or any clue as to where they went."

"I don't get it, we've been searching non-stop since the Eclipse incident," Luna remarked. "We should've found some trace or hint of their whereabouts, but we keep coming out empty-handed!"

"Calm down, Luna, getting angry literally won't help anybody," Lori said, with the sisters nodding in agreement. "We'll just have to keep looking."

"But where else are we supposed to look?" Lynn asked. "We already checked all the places we know in Royal Woods, and Mom and Dad aren't going to let us just go everywhere we don't know!"

"Video tapes?"

The girls turned to look at the one who said that, Leni, who promptly added:

"Oh no, I was, like, thinking about the fact we might be missing something, and for some reason, video tapes were the first thing that came to mind."

"That's it! The video tapes from the laboratory!" Luna chirped up. "Luan, did you manage to see their content?!"

"No, I've been saving them in my closet since we got them," the comedian answered. "I just thought that it would be better to save them for something like this, or just in case they were needed."

"Well, they're definitely needed now," Lucy stated.

"Alright everybody, let's go back home!" Lori ordered as she hit the ground with her spear. "Time to literally pop some nostalgia and see where it leads us!"

The sisters nodded in agreement and promptly jumped all the way back home, hoping that the videotapes would give them a clue, or at least a hint, at their missing siblings' whereabouts.

 ** _Meanwhile, with Girl Jordan..._**

The girl walked down the streets, trying to process what exactly happened last week. She did know that she found out she was more or less a puppet to the furry bastard known as Divisu, and that when the shadow zone was being destroyed, Lily saved her for some reason.

The spot between then and there, however, was mysteriously blank.

"Ugh, if only there was someone I could ask about the things I don't remember from the shadow zone," the girl bemoaned. "Then again, I guess I could've asked Mrs. Johnson what happened. But-"

Suddenly, the girl spotted something, or more accurately someone, who immediately caught her attention. This someone was Clyde, who was walking to school by his lonesome.

"Clyde!" the girl exclaimed as she ran to the guy's side, getting his attention in the process. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd already be at school, like usual?"

"Normally I would, but I got caught up in my old habit of waiting for Lincoln so we could go there together," the boy answered. "However, since he... well, you know, I had no reason to stay."

"Well, how about I walk with you to school today?" Girl Jordan suggested. "Just to try and take the spot Lincoln left?"

Clyde looked at the girl with surprise, then smiled and nodded as he said, "I'd... appreciate that, thanks."

So, the duo began walking together to the school, with a pregnant silence quickly forming between them...

"Soon, it'll have been two months since Lincoln and Lisa disappeared from the public eye," Clyde broke the ice. "And, while I was initially calm about it, I'm starting to wonder what could've happened to them that would make them go missing for so long."

"Yeah, me too," Girl Jordan sighed. "I still think that creature called Gemini could have something to do with it, but I'm thinking about including Divisu as a potential reason for their disappearance."

Clyde raised an eyebrow. "Divisu?"

"A creature I met last week, during the Eclipse incident," the girl explained, narrowing her eyes as she remembered her encounter with the beast. "They're essentially a black Gemini who's a lot less subtle about their malevolence, and the ones who I bonded with."

"So there is a creature people can bond with other than Gemini," Clyde remarked as he turned back to the road. "I'll be sure to look out for them, sounds like they're trouble."

Girl Jordan rolled her eyes. "Like you wouldn't believe."

Then, the duo reached the school, and stopped at the entrance.

"I'm going to go ahead to the classroom, see if there's something I can do to distract my mind about what we just talked," Clyde said as he turned to look at the girl. "You do whatever you want."

Girl Jordan nodded, and as Clyde promptly walked to the school, Girl Jordan went to the playground, where she saw almost all of her classmates having fun, or just trying to enjoy their stay until classes started.

That is, except for three girls: Mollie, Kat, and Joy, whose conversation she could hear from afar:

"I miss Lincoln," Mollie bemoaned.

"Yeah, me too," Joy said, folding her arms. "Something doesn't feel right without him in the classroom."

"Forget about the classroom," Kat remarked, leaning against a wall. "He's nowhere to be seen anywhere in Royal Woods: The arcades, bakeries, houses, I've asked as many people as possible if they've seen him, and not a single one of them has!"

"What's going on here?"

The trio turned around and saw Girl Jordan approaching them, looking partially curious.

"We were just talking about our feelings over how Lincoln went missing almost two months ago," Mollie explained, while Joy threw an accussing glare at Girl Jordan. "We've been looking for him, but we still haven't found him or any clues as to where he could be right now."

"Really?" Girl Jordan raised an eyebrow and scratched her chin. "So, I wasn't the only one who was worried about him going missing?"

"Geez, I heard rumors that you were self-centered, but I thought they were just that, rumors," Joy remarked before she folded her arms. "Listen, you're not the only one besides his family that cares about Lincoln, you know? Even if we like to tease and annoy him, it's just for laughs."

"And besides, he disappeared so suddenly, there was no way only one person would notice and try to go look for him," Kat added. "Although, it seems that regardless of whether it's one or several people, we still have the same result: Little to no clues or hints to what happened to him."

Seeing the conversation could quickly upset her, Girl Jordan quickly changed the subject:

"By the way, would you just so happen to be Lux Auras?"

"I'm pretty sure _every_ girl in our classroom is a Lux Aura, yes," Mollie answered, scratching the back of her head. "And before you ask what we were doing during the Eclipse incident, we escorted the rest of our class to a safe spot until things calmed down."

"I see..." Girl Jordan paused. "Well, I was asking because..."

Just then, she remembered Lily's words:

" _Just because you **could** endanger everybody in Royal Woods, doesn't mean you **have** to._"

"I wanted to know if you were free to come hunt some cores of darkness with me, later today," Girl Jordan continued. "Just to see how much more effective it is to take care of them together."

"You've never been part of a team before?" Joy asked, raising a suspicious answer. "Not even as a "guest" member or something?"

Once again, Girl Jordan remembered the time she fought with Lily, and then the Loud sisters and Becky. However, unsure of whether those times counted, Girl Jordan raised an eyebrow and answered:

"Maybe?"

Kat looked at Mollie, who shrugged with a smile, and then Joy, who shook her head with a stern look.

"Well, you can come with us if you'd like" Kat answered as she turned back to Girl Jordan. "We'll go out after school, so meet up with us if you decide to come, 'kay?"

Girl Jordan nodded, and the girls separated while Girl Jordan thought:

" _Alright, Lily, let's give your little idea a test: If I don't have to hurt anybody, then surely I can just keeping dealing with the cores of darkness like a normal Lux Aura... right?_ "

 _ **Meanwhile, at the Teacher's Lounge...**_

Mrs. Johnson prepared some coffee, remaining relatively calm after processing everything that happened last week. She also made two extra cups for the teachers in there with her: Teri and Mrs. Shrinivas.

"So, did you hear about the poor girl Dana?" Teri asked as Mrs. Johnson finished making the coffee. "She turned into an Eclipse, revealing their existence before she fell into a coma once she turned back to normal."

"Dang, she turned into an Eclipse and then fell into a coma?" Mrs. Shrinivas asked as Mrs. Johnson handed her and Teri their cups. "That sounds awful: I wonder what happened that caused her to turn into an Eclipse."

"Well, there are a couple of rumors going around," Teri said before she took a sip from her coffee. "Some say that she was cornered by some creature who forced her to turn into an Eclipse. Some other people said she tried to destroy one of the cores of darkness without help from a Lux Aura, and became an Eclipse as a consequence. And some other people say she ate a core of darkness, thinking it could help her turn into a Lux Aura."

Teri then turned to the redhead. "Hey, Agnes, what do you think?"

"I think that you shouldn't be out gossiping so much," Mrs. Johnson answered sternly. "I mean seriously, we're talking about a student turning into a monster greater than a Shadow! Would it hurt you to take it a bit more seriously?!"

"Relax, Agnes, I'm just trying up the mood," Teri answered, waving her hand. "I mean, somebody has to do it in these kind of situations, you know?"

And then Mrs. Shrinivas sighed, getting the duo's attention.

"Is something wrong, Shrinivas?" Teri asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's almost been two months since Mrs. Loud vanished," Mrs. Shrinivas answered. "I started growing uneasy ever since she went one week missing, but now that it's close to two months since then, I'm starting to get worried sick for her."

"Shouldn't you feel relaxed too, though, if for a little bit?" Teri questioned, taking another sip of her coffee. "After all, wasn't Lisa the one who usually drove you utterly insane with her inventions?"

"She was, but still, having one of my students suddenly disappear for so long is just... unnerving," Mrs. Shrinivas sighed. "I wish there was something I could do to help look for them."

"The best thing we can do right now is stay out of trouble, and keep our eyes open in case Shadows or Eclipses strike again," Mrs. Johnson remarked.

"What about bonding with Gemini and turning into whatever he turned you into?" Teri half-jokingly suggested.

"It's far too risky a move," the redheaded woman answered, shaking her head. "There's something about that creature that gives me the feeling bonding with him will do more harm than good."

"If that's the case, then why did you bond with him?" Teri bluntly asked.

"Desperate situations require desperate measures," Mrs. Johnson answered just as bluntly. "And with the knowledge of Divisu and the Eclipses' existence, things are going to get more dangerous going forward."

Mrs. Shrinivas tilted her head. "Who's Divisu?"

"A black creature similar to Gemini, only more blatantly rude and malicious," Mrs. Johnson sighed. "All I know about them so far is that they have something to do with the Shadows and the Eclipses."

"I see, a black creature, right?" Mrs. Shrinivas asked. "I'll keep an eye out for them, then."

" _You definitely should._ "

The women turned around and saw, who else, gemini standing at the window, looking at them with its frozen face as its tail slowly waggled.

"So, that's the entity going around creating Lux Auras, huh?" Teri remarked as she got up and walked towards the creature. "What, did you come here to create yet another one?"

" _Quite the contrary, we're here to warn you against forming a bond with us,_ " Gemini answered, slapping Teri away with their tail as they said, " _We don't know how she managed to do it, but the entity known as Divisu has managed to impersonate us, and managed to create the opposite of a Lux Aura: An Umbra Aura._ "

"I had a feeling you were hiding something," Mrs. Johnson sternly remarked.

" _We'll admit that technically speaking, we were, as you say, hiding something from you and the Lux Auras,_ " Gemini replied, turning their attention to Mrs. Johnson. " _However, we hid it under the pretense that we'd never need to tell you about it in the first place. After all, the idea that Umbra Auras could even be created wasn't something we thought possible until last week._ "

"Well, seeing how you're pointing them out now, might as well ask the inevitable question," Teri remarked, folding her arms. "What are these Umbra Auras you're talking about?"

" _From our understanding, their "malicious" counterparts to the Lux Auras,_ " Gemini answered. " _Only instead of being equipped to deal and get rid of Shadows, they're equipped to empower them._ "

"That doesn't sound good," Mrs. Shrinivas said.

"It's certainly not good, no matter how you look at it," Mrs. Johnson answered. "Did you tell the other Lux Auras in the area about it?"

" _We've been going around town telling all the Lux Auras we could find,_ " Gemini answered. " _We're about to head to the streets in order to tell any Lux Auras we missed._ "

"Wait, before you go," Mrs. Johnson remarked, getting the creature's attention. "There's something I'd like to ask you."

Gemini turned back to the woman and tilted their head. " _What is it?_ "

"Where do you keep running off to, Gemini?" Mrs. Johnson sternly asked. "According to the Louds, ever since they pondered if you had something to do with Lisa's experiments, you sporadically return to the house once in a while before disappearing again."

The creature lowered their head and explained:

" _There's something we need to work on in order to ensure that Royal Woods wil survive until the end of the year... assuming things don't suddenly speed up like crazy._ "

And with that said, the creature ran away.

And as Teri and Mrs. Shrinivas went back to their stuff, Mrs. Johnson watched the creature going off to see the other Lux Auras, with a distrustful look.

 ** _Meanwhile, at Mrs. Johnson's classroom..._**

Clyde sat on his desk, his chin resting on his palm as he looked at the empty desk where Lincoln was supposed to sit at. Then, he turned to the window, to try and take his focus away from the fact his best friend wasn't around...

And he spotted a white rabbit, looking straight at him.

Though shocked for a moment, Clyde blinked twice, and the rabbit was nowhere to be seen. So he turned back to his desk...

And there was the rabbit, sitting on top of it.

Clyde tried to grab the rabbit, but it quickly jumped off his desk and ran away, prompting the boy to run after it. Sure, there was no guarantee it would lead him somewhere, but he needed to take him mind off Lincoln somehow.

And so, the boy chased after the rabbit, eventually leaving the school and running up towards the grassfields, with the rabbit barely slowing down as they went up a hill.

Luckily, Clyde and the rabbit had equally good stamina.

Eventually, however, the rabbit went out of Clyde's view, and he continued to chase after it as he climbed a mountain, then landed at the top, where he stopped to catch his breath as he realized something:

The rabbit was gone.

And he was now standing alone, on a grassfield covered with quite the collection of beautiful flowers, though the boy only had a moment to look at them before the wind suddenly blew, causing several leafs and flowers to fly past him as he closed his eyes...

Only to open them again to see a girl in front of him.

She had white hair reaching her waist, a white tuxedo with matching pants and shoes, black gloves and bowtie, and a domino mask covering her face.

"Looks like someone did come after all," the girl remarked as Clyde rubbed his eyes, just to make sure he wasn't imagining anything. "And the one who came, just so happened to be the guy I was looking for.

Once he could verify he wasn't dreaming, Clyde took a deep breath and calmed down. "Hi, my name is-"

"Clyde McBride," the masked person said. "I already know. Believe it or not, you're quite popular."

The boy frowned and nervously smiled. "Sorry, but I find that very hard to believe."

"Okay then, Clyde McBride, you were the only boy in the classroom who actually noticed me and followed me out here," the snow-haired girl remarked with a wide smile. "I got to say, you're certainly as promising as I figured you'd be!"

"Um, I'm sorry, but..." Clyde paused and scratched the back of his head. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, how do I say this without blowing your mind?" the girl scratched her chin and hummed out loud. "I'm experiment 13 of the Magical Series, created by Lisa Loud in order to help her with her and Lincoln's secret project."

As soon as Clyde heard "Lincoln" and "Lisa," his attention was immediately caught.

"S-So, you know Lincoln and Lisa?!" he asked out loud. "Do you know what happened to them?! If you do, then you have to tell me all you know-!"

"I'm sorry, didn't you hear me just now? I'm an experiment made by Lisa to help her and Lincoln with their project: Of course I know them!" the girl snapped sternly. "Besides, assuming I know anything about them, why would I give away that information for free?"

Realizing the girl wanted a deal, Clyde adjusted his glasses. "What do you want in return for the information?"

"Bond with me, and become a Lux Squire," the girl bluntly answered. "It's kind of like a Lux Aura, except it's completely different."

"Well, which one is it?" Clyde groaned in exasperation. "Is it like a Lux Aura, or is it something entirely different? They're both mutually exclusive."

The girl frowned. "Do you want the information or not?"

"Only if there's information to begin with," Clyde growled. "If you have nothing to give me, then leave me alone."

The girl remained silent, then smiled. "Very well, get on your knees and I'll start the bonding ceremony."

Clyde rolled his eyes and obliged. After all, even if he had no way of knowing if the girl had any information he needed, at this point, anything would be good as long as it gave him even the vaguest hint about what happened to his best friend.

Oh, and Lisa too. She's important too.

So, Clyde got on his knees, and the girl promptly created some light matter, which she then morphed into a sword. She then held it tightly as she gently touched Clyde's shoulders, saying:

"I hereby declare you, Clyde McBride, the very first of the Lux Squires! May the light be your guide, and your power, to rid the world of Shadows once and for all!"

The girl raised her sword, and it glew brightly until it transformed into a circular sphere of light, which landed on Clyde's hands as the boy looked at it, wondering why it wasn't a cube like those the Lux Auras had.

"And now, for the information you were asking about..."

Clyde immediately stood up and listened carefully as he saved the object in his pocket:

"The laboratory once owned by Lisa at the outskirts of the city looks like an abandoned laboratory at first glance, but when both "mentor creatures" are gathered at the center of it, the location's true form shall be revealed."

Clyde wrote that down as the girl continued:

"These mentor creatures are, of course, Gemini and Divisu. Bring them both to the center of the laboratory, and you should get the answers you're looking for."

"Will it lead me to Lincoln and Lisa?" Clyde bluntly inquired.

"Oh, it will lead you to so much more than that, dear Clyde," the girl giggled. "Now, since we've bonded and I've given you the information you seeked, there's no more reason for me to stay here!"

And with that said, the girl began to leave, until Clyde suddenly asked:

"What's your name?"

The girl stopped, and as her hair blew wildly in the wind, she turned around and gave Clyde a thumbs up as she answered:

"Loud. Liberty Loud."

The wind grew more intense, causing Clyde to close his eyes for a moment until it suddenly stopped. And by then, Liberty was nowhere to be seen, in either rabbit or human form.

" _Liberty Loud, huh?_ " he thought. " _I should better remember that name, just in case._ "

And then he realized something even more important:

"I have to tell the sisters about this!"

 ** _A long time later, after school..._**

Girl Jordan joined Kat, Joy, and Mollie in their quest to destroy cores of darkness present in the streets. The girls had the same bodysuits that the other Lux Auras had, but colored navy blue, green, and red respectively.

Once they finished destroying the ones they could see, they all unsummoned their weapons, except for Girl Jordan, who only unsummoned her arrows.

"Okay, Mollie, come with me and help me verify there aren't any other cores of darkness to deal with elsewhere," Kat told the girl.

"Okay!" she chirped.

And so the girls jumped away, leaving Joy and Girl Jordan alone.

"Say, Girl Jordan," Joy remarked as she walked to the girl and looked at her bow and arrow. "Why didn't you unsummon your weapon completely?"

"I did: The arrows are my weapon," the girl answered before she showed the bow to Joy. "This bow was a gift I got in order to use my arrows more efficiently."

" _It wasn't easy to make something that could exist regardless of your input, you know?_ "

The girl flinched and looked around, getting on each other's backs as they looked and heard the voice add:

" _But I'm glad to hear that it has worked wonders for you._ "

Just then, Girl Jordan turned around and summoned her arrows as she saw a familiar creature far away: Divisu, standing on top of a lamppost.

"You again!?" Girl Jordan hissed as she aimed at the creature.

The archer shot an arrow at the creature, who jumped out of the way before it hit the lamppost, blowing up its top portion in the process.

"Oh, that's certainly going to get us in trouble," Joy remarked as she kept an eye on the dark creature. "What is that thing anyway?"

"That's the creature called Divisu!" Girl Jordan snapped, summoning. "They're the ones related to the Shadows! Now attack them with all you got!"

"What about the cores of darkness?" Joy asked.

"We've dealt with all the cores in the area!"

That was said by Mollie, who arrived at the scene with Kat as she added, "I've already checked with Kat."

"Therefore," Kat summoned her weapon from her back: A massive hammer. "Let's focus on destroying that thing!"

Mollie and Joy exchanged looks and nodded before they summoned their weapons: A pair of wings and a staff, respectively.

The trio promptly ganged up on the dark creature, with Joy swinging her staff hoping to hit them, only for the creature to dodge every strike until the last one, where Joy successfully hit them and sent them flying to Mollie, who then smacked them with her wings and sent them flying towards Kat and her hammer.

However, before Kat could crush them with the hammer, Divisu turned into the form of a dark cloud and flew out of the attack's range, with them flying up a little bit until an arrow flew to them and somehow hit them, forcing them back into their physical form as they exclaimed:

"What the heck is this?!"

"Matter Transition Arrows!" Girl Jordan boasted. "It transitions any object it hits into a material form, assuming it's not in one already, and keeps them that way!"

"What?!" was all Divisu could exclaimed before they were caught in Kat's hammer, who then slammed them down on their head, destroying it completely...

Only for dark matter to come out of it and form a hand, which clutched Kat in her entirety and lifted her before slamming her against the ground twice. With that done, the hand-headed beast threw Kat at her two friends, then morphed into a tendril.

Not even a second passed before the tendril expanded towards the girls, and pierced their stomaches, taking out their white cubes... and somehow darkening them until they were completely black.

Before it could do anything else, though, Girl Jordan shot an arrow at the tendril's "neck," causing it to split apart and for Divisu to regrow their head as the archer kept shooting arrows at it, forcing them to retreat as the tendril's "head" vanished, and the now darkened-cubes returned to the trio's bodies.

" _You know, I'm impressed that you think there's any point in fighting against me anymore,_ " Divisu remarked deadpanly as it dodged anothe incoming arrow. " _After all, you already know your purpose. So, why keep fighting against it? Why keep fighting against me?_ "

"You already tricked me into turning into the opposite of the beings who protect Royal Woods, and now you're trying to hurt three innocent girls!?" Girl Jordan snapped, stomping the ground. "What are you even planning to do now!? What do you have to gain by doing this?"

The creature chuckled. " _How about you turn around and see for yourself?_ "

Girl Jordan hesitated, not trusting the creature in the slightest. But then she heard some growling, and she turned around to see one particular difference with the girl trio:

Their eyes were glowing golden.

 ** _Meanwhile, at the Loud House..._**

The Loud sisters were at Luna and Luan's bedroom, watching the 12th videotape that the duo managed to bring with them after their last trip on the laboratory.

The video depicted Lincoln and Lisa talking about some blueprints, with them barely paying attention to the video.

" _I'm telling you, Lily can't handle something this dark and disturbing!_ " Lincoln snapped at Lisa. " _Even if you don't plan to give this to her until she's a bit older, she'll only be like four, five, maybe six years old! That's too young for this kind of stuff!_ "

" _I'm telling you, we can't understimate her just because she's a baby, or a child,_ " Lisa argued in return. " _We need to treat her like the intellectually smart baby she is: Just because most babies can't handle dark, disturbing stuff, doesn't mean the same will apply to her!_ "

" _And I'm telling you, it's one thing to treat her like she's smart,_ " Lincoln calmly retorted, only to snap, " _It's another thing to potentially traumatize her with something that's supposed to be a gift to her!_ "

Soon after, something was heard whistling, and then a piece of metal bounced all over the place until it hit the camera, ending the video.

Afterwards, Lori took off the videotape and put it with the rest as she took a deep breath, then turned to her sisters, saying:

"Okay, we've been literally watching these videotapes for a while. What have we learned from them?"

"A lot of things blew up," Lynn answered.

"There were several experiments planned," Lola added as she crossed her arms. "But Lisa and Lincoln decided to put them on hold in order to focus on the big project."

"That Lisa, despite, like, being someone who prefers advanced technologics, still used videotapes to film the scenes," Leni remarked, tilting her head.

"That despite watching everything, there's still no clue as to what happened to them," Luan sighed, before she grabbed a videotape and said, with a little smile, "Oh well, maybe the 13th videotape will be the charm?"

Just then, the girls heard somebody knock the door, so they ran downstairs and they found Clyde outside as soon as they opened it.

Seconds later, the boy and the girls sat on the couch, the latter looking at the guy as he finished his explanation.

"So, you say that a being other than Gemini and Divisu bonded with you and literally turned you into something similar to a Lux Aura?" Lori recapped. "A humanoid being, at that?"

"Yeah, I followed her animal form to a grassfield and, in exchange for giving me some information, bonded with her to become a Lux Squire or something like that," Clyde explained. "Oh, and her name was Liberty Loud."

"Liberty Loud?" Luna inquired in confusion. "And, as you say, she gave you a form similar to a Lux Aura?"

"Yeah, but she called it Lux Squire," Clyde nodded. "I haven't transformed yet, though, so I don't know how it differs from the Lux Aura form."

"Well, why don't you transform now?" Lynn suggested. "I mean, since we don't know if you'd be useful in a fight against a Shadow or an-"

"Eclipse!"

The girls and Clyde got off the couch and saw the parents entering the room in a panicked state.

"An Eclipse just formed on the streets!" Lynn Sr. exclaimed. "Their shadow zone is taking the form of a courthouse!"

"That's impossible! How can there be another Eclipse a mere week after the last one?!" Luna remarked.

"Mom! Dad! How many, like, cores of darkness have they absorbed?" Leni asked worriedly.

"There aren't any, only the Eclipse is around," Lynn Sr. answered.

"And before you ask, no, the Eclipse didn't absorb the cores of darkness," Rita added hastily. "It seems that the Eclipse just came into existence while there were no cores of darkness around."

"I thought that was impossible!" Lynn exclaimed, clenching her fists. "Dang it, why didn't we ask Gemini about it while we had the chance!?"

"Getting angry literally won't help anybody!" Lori stated before she turned to the geek. "Clyde, transform and help us fight the Eclipse, will you?!"

"W-What?!" the boy exclaimed, understandably shocked. "You seriously expect me to face one of those things right now?!"

"Don't worry, if things go the same way as they did last week, we'll get help from a certain someone soon enough," Lucy said, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Now please, transform! We don't have time to lose!"

With that said, Clyde took out the sphere and threw it up, causing it to burst into a shower of light confetti that covered him in a white aura. This aura slowly broke off until it shattered completely, revealing the boy's Lux Squire look.

He had a grey bodysuit, like the Lux Auras, but he also had a belt with a long flag... or what looked like a flag, with a star printed on it, coming down to his shoes.

The sisters promptly transformed as well, and they ran outside as Lily exclaimed:

"Let's go!"


	10. Episode V: Trial

**Hi everyone, back where we left off, a new Eclipse had been created through three Lux Auras being eclipsed, thanks to Divisu (Screw you!) and now the Loud sisters and Clyde are heading to deal with it.**

 **And the chapter after this, we'll drop a bunch of bombshells, so enjoy the peace time.**

 **Now, let's answer some reviews!:**

 **1) Nobody245:**

 *** That's actually a common cliche, not only on Magical Girl media, but on any media in general: Refusing to give out important info until much later in order to continue with the plot.**

 **2) ChernoMan:**

 *** I see. Thanks for the compliment. :)**

 *** True...**

 *** Ain't I a little sucker? (Bugs Bunny reference, yay!)**

 *** Dude, the transgender Girl Jordan story idea was a joke. XD**

 **Now to the story itself!**

 *** Yeah, Lori, it's almost like I was the one making you say that... wait...**

 *** Ohohoho, you cheeky little jerk. ;)**

 *** Every mentor mascot, ever.**

 *** Who says Liberty was successful?**

 *** About dang time!**

 *** Again, about dang time!**

 *** What part are you talking about?**

 *** This is the second part of the episode, so, let's see if you have anything to say by the end.**

 **And now, to the chapter!**

* * *

Back where we left off, the sisters, and Clyde, jumped from rooftop to rooftop, following the purple mist around the city towards the Eclipse.

"I don't get it, the mist was used to absorb the cores of darkness last time," Lana remarked, looking at the mist suspiciously. "Why is the Eclipse unleashing it if there are no cores to absorb?"

"Maybe it has some kind of effect on the citizens," Lori suggested, strictly focusing on the mist as well. "Either that, or it's just for the creepy effect. Either way, it's literally our only lead to the Eclipse, so we might as well follow it while we still have the chance."

Hearing that, Lily was the first to look at the streets in hopes of finding a civillian. And while she did find several of them, most of them looked perfectly fine, if mildly confused and concerned for the mist going around.

"It doesn't seem to be having any effect on the civillians, however..."

And then the team stopped on a rooftop just as another creature landed in the same spot: Gemini, who waggled their tail as they ran to the team.

"Gemini!" Lily chirped.

"Why am I not surprised that we see you again while we're on our way to deal with another Eclipse?" Luna growled, rubbing her forehead in frustration.

"You know, you're starting to look more and more untrustworthy by the minute!" Lynn snapped, cracking her knuckles. "How about you come out and tell us everything we need to know right here, right now?"

" _We would, if there wasn't a more pressing issue at the moment!_ " Gemini answered. " _In fact, we were looking for you because you're the closest Lux Auras we could find!_ "

"What kind of nonsense is that?! There's dozens of Lux Auras around, how could we be the closest you could find!?" Lynn snapped, taking heavy steps towards the creature. "And you still haven't spilled the beans about the things you haven't told us yet!"

Then, Lucy got in between the jock and the creature and said:

"W-Wait, Lynn! Maybe we should wait until after we deal with the Eclipse in order to get Gemini to explain everything!"

"Especially because we need them alive."

The girls turned to Clyde, who elaborated:

"According to Liberty, in order to get some clue as to what happened to Lincoln and Lisa, we need both Gemini and Divisu and take them to the center of the laboratory. Only then, we'll get the answers we've been looking for."

" _Liberty?_ " Gemini thought to themselves, lowering their head. " _That sounds... familiar, somehow._ "

"Tsk, you got lucky, you little furry headache," Lynn spat at the creature. "We'll keep you alive until we reach the laboratory, and then we'll make you spill the beans about everything!"

Gemini's tail lowered as the creature whimpered, causing Lily to pick them up before the sisters continued to go towards the Eclipse's shadow zone.

 ** _Meanwhile, with Divisu..._**

The dark creature stood just outside the shadow zone created from the Eclipse, which indeed took the form of a floating, purple courthouse.

" _Hmph, it was about time this Jordan child was made accountable for her mistakes,_ " the creature stated before they stretched. " _However, I got more important things to do than witness her mental breakdown over being proven wrong, so-_ "

"You're not going anywhere!"

The creature's ears lifted, and they jumped away moments before Mrs. Johnson, in her Lux Aura, crashed down hard enough to leave a crater on the ground.

" _Well, if it isn't Agnes Johnson,_ " Divisu chuckled as they hit the ground, and tilted their head. " _I'm sorry, but you're a little bit too late: The Eclipse has already been formed, and one of your precious students is inside the shadow zone. I believe you should be focusing on that first._ "

"Even so, letting you go free and cause another Eclipse to happen is something I can't do!" the redheaded woman took a battle stance. "So, one way or another, I'm taking you in, Divisu!"

" _You say that now,_ " the creature jumped high. " _But how can you catch me when I'm not even in a material form!?_ "

However, as soon as Divisu tried to transform, the creature's form glitched and caused them to hit the ground, where they twitched in pain as they remembered something.

" _Oh right, that stupid Jordan's arrow is still stuck within our body. I need to expel it before-_ "

Suddenly, Mrs. Johnson took out a bag from nowhere and trapped the creature inside of it, with Divisu flailing wildly inside just as the Loud siblings reached the spot.

"Mrs. Johnson, what a surprise to see you here!" Clyde chirped up. "I mean, the sisters did imply we were going to see you eventually, but I didn't think you'd already be here."

"The Louds informed me that another Eclipse had been formed, and since I was close to the area, I transformed and came as quickly as I could," the woman explained before she revealed the bag. "On the way here, I encountered Divisu, and I managed to capture them."

"Wait, you captured the creature that has the ability to turn into a black, immaterial cloud?" Lori asked, earning a nod from the woman. "That should've been literally impossible! How did you do it?"

"They seem to have an arrow stuck to their person, preventing them from turning into their cloud form," Mrs. Johnson shrugged. "However, that's besides the point: We have to head to the Eclipse's zone, right now!"

The team nodded in mutual agreement, and everybody went through the door to the shadow courthouse, with the door closing shut just as a white rabbit appeared in the scene, and morphed into Liberty, who said:

"It's all up to you now, Clyde."

Speaking of the boy, he and everybody else fell down a large abyss, with a light at the end of the tunnel shaped like a heart. They didn't take long to fall through it, and once they did, they were in for quite a shock.

They were in the middle of a court, with Girl Jordan standing in the defendant stand with her ankles chained to the stand. Surrounding them were completely empty benches, where there was nobody present to watch the trial, despite the murmurs echoing in the room.

And last but not least, the Eclipses stood on the lawyer, prosecutor, and judge seats.

To the right was the Eclipse of Mollie.

They were depicted as a vaguely androgynous being of pure fire with avian features, particularly the head, with Mollie's wings being the only things to not be covered in fire. They wore a red tuxedo, and held a bunch of papers-which somehow didn't burn to a crisp-as their subtitle appeared.

 **\- Eclipse of Defense, Phoenix -**

To the left was the Eclipse of Joy.

They were depicted as bearing a resemblance to a humanoid honey badger, with a black sclera and light blue eyes that sent a piercing stare to whoever they looked at. And her staff was used as a ruler, clashing it against their wrist as their subtitle appeared:

 **\- Eclipse of Interrogation, Fransizka -**

And finally, in the middle was the Eclipse of Kat.

The easiest way to describe their appearance was inhuman: They were represented as a giant heand literally sitting on the table, sporting several eyes around it that were looking everywhere at once, but in front of them. Kat's hammer was equally big and levitating around them, looking ready to swing down at any minute.

 **\- Eclipse of Judgement, Karma -**

Then, the hammer swung down twice, silencing the non-existent court members.

"Order in the court!" Karma shouted, their voice echoing in the room. "It's time to begin the trial of Girl Jordan, who has been accused of allegedly obsessive behavior of the missing Lincoln Loud, refusal to acknowledge other people being in pain of his disappearance, and finally, for the property damage!"

"Oh come on, how can you see the third thing as worth pointing out?!" Girl Jordan snapped. "I mean, I get the first two, but isn't the third one something everybody does?!"

Karma opened their front eyes, showing they were glowing a solid golden color as they asked:

"Should I assume you plead guilty for the third one?"

Girl Jordan took a step forward, and not wanting to anger the giant head any further, she clenched her fists and nodded while looking away.

In response, Karma closed their front eyes and then asked:

"Then, for the first two, how do you plead?"

"Um, excuse us?"

Karma, Phoenix, Fransizka, and Girl Jordan turned around to see the Loud sisters, Clyde, and Mrs. Johnson entering the court through the doorway.

"Are you witnessess to Girl Jordan's aleged crimes?" Karma inquired.

"We're... well, our relationship with her isn't very developed, so we don't know what to tell you," Lynn answered. "I guess in a sense, you could call us as witnessess of the kind of person Girl Jordan is, or-"

Karma, quickly growing tired of Lynn's apparent wordyness, appeared right before her and glashed their golden eyes as they yelled, "Have you witnessed Girl Jordan's actions in these past days!?"

"Yes we have!" the sisters exclaimed in unison.

Then, the giant head turned to Mrs. Johnson and Clyde. "What about you two?!"

"I've seen her and talked to her several times before," Mrs. Johnson answered, boldly standing against the giant head.

"I've o-only talked with her sparingly," Clyde answered.

Karma, having gotten the answers they seeked, promptly said:

"Lady, sisters, you count as a witnesses. Boy, as you have not been a witness to the accused's crimes, you must stay at the stands with the rest of the court visitors."

Karma blinked, and without notice, the sisters and Mrs. Johnson sat at a bench close to the door, and Clyde stood in one of the chairs in the empty courthouse.

"And now, we resume," Karma said as they flew back to the judge's seat. "Since the accused hasn't given an answer, and we got no time to waste, the defense has the word in."

"Thank you, Your Wiseness," Phoenix remarked before checking their papers. "Your Wiseness, my client here has been accused of several things that, while legitimately upsetting, are easily justifiable under the circumstances."

"Objection!" Franziska shouted, getting everybody's attention. "Your Wiseness, the defense is blatantly lying! The defendant, under no circumstances, was in an "easily justifiable" manner when she commited the things she's been accused of!"

"Prosecution, it's the turn of the defense, wait until they have spoken," Karma said before they turned to the phoenix. "Now please, defense, resume."

Phoenix nodded and continued. "Girl Jordan, you're one of the many Lux Auras protecting Royal Woods, right?"

"Yes," Girl Jordan stated.

Phoenix scratched their chin. "Uh huh, and how would you describe the job of a Lux Aura?"

"It's easy for the most part, since the most we do is find cores of darkness, the very "eggs" from which the Shadows "hatch" from, and destroy them before they turn into a problem," Girl Jordan sighed. "But then there are times when things just get difficult, and it becomes exhausting then."

"Interesting," Phoenix paced back and forth. "Now, during any expedition or hunt for the cores of darkness, can you confirm whether or not you caused any significant property damage?"

"Objection!" Franziska exclaimed. "Your Wiseness, the defense is trying to do the prosecution's job!"

"It is true; The prosecution's job is to interrogate the defendant, and the defense's question sounded more fitting for you," Karma turned to Phoenix. "Defense, I'll ask that you take back that statement, and return to your stand."

Phoenix flinched, then hesitantly bowed. "Y-Yes, Your Wiseness."

Phoenix returned to their seat, and Franziska literally jumped from their seat and stood in front of Girl Jordan as they asked:

"Girl Jordan, have you caused any significant property damage in any of your hunts for cores of darkness?"

Girl Jordan scratched the back of her head and looking elsewhere. "Not that I can remember. Although I can't tell if I can't remember because I haven't done it, or because I forgot-"

"Girl Jordan, remember you're in court: You may speak the truth, and only the truth," Karma stated. "If the answer remains inconclusive, we'll have to call in witnesses for their testimonies-"

"Let me be first!"

Everybody turned to see the one who said that: Lily, who raised her hand high as she added:

"Let me pestify!"

" _Testify,_ " Gemini hastily corrected.

"Testify!" Lily chirped.

A couple seconds later, Lily was on the defendant's stand, waving at the girl in question as the badger-like Eclipsa walked back and forth.

"How was your first meeting with Girl Jordan?" Franziska asked the aged toddler. "What kind of impression did you get from it?"

"Well, when we first met, my sisters and I were on our first hunt for cores of darkness," Lily explained. "And she-"

"Lily Loud, you're in court: You may speak the truth and only the truth!" Karma growled. "Any lies will be seen through, and you will be punished for it!"

Seeing the kind of problem she would face, the toddler sighed and said:

"Our first meeting was when she tried to kill Gemini with an explosive arrow, which ended in a fight between me and her."

Murmurs were heard all over the courthouse, until Karma slammed their hammer down twice.

"Order in the court!" Karma exclaimed. "Now then, Mrs. Loud, continue."

Hesitantly, Lily obliged:

"Well, sometime later, she asked me to join her in order to check a theory of hers: If the cores of darkness had anything to do with the Lux Auras-"

"I'll ask you to stop there, Mrs. Loud," Karma interjected. "Now, please tell the court, if you know what brought out this curiosity in Girl Jordan. Did anything happen that would make her wish to know the answer to this bizarre question?"

Lily hesitated once again, this time stalling as long as possible

"She failed to destroy a core in time, and when it reached its penumbra state, she sa something that made her want to try and repeat the process."

Phoenix looked visibly exasperated at the revelation, while Badger smirked smugly and the team looked worried, all while the murmurs of the empty courthouse filled the place until Karma once again slammed their hammer twice.

"Your Wiseness, do you need to hear anything else?" Franziska inquired as they turned to look at the giant head. "Girl Jordan not only caused property damage, but also had her visage in a Penumbra core! What more do we need to declare the girl guilty?"

"Evidence, Franziska," Karma bluntly answered. "And besides, the interrogation of the witness isn't over yet. Therefore, continue with your job before I give you a penalty."

The badger flinched. "Y-Yes, Your Wiseness..."

Then, the badger turned back to the aged toddler. "So, what exactly did you do when you agreed to help Girl Jordan with her experiment?"

"Well, we searched for a core of darkness, and... we allowed it to reach its penumbra state," Lily answered, suddenly growing nervous at the latter part.

The courtroom gasped, and Lori rubbed her temples as she said:

"Oh, Lily, why must you literally be too naive for your own good?"

"That's not the problem here! Why did nobody tell us about this before we came here!?" Luna snapped, slamming her fists down the table. "Girl Jordan brought Lily along to watch a core of darkness grow further into a Shadow! How did anybody miss that happen!"

Luan looked elsewhere, looking clearly nervous, but while Leni and some of the sisters looked at her, the rest looked at Gemini, who continued looking at the girl as Lynn began getting particularly angry at them.

"You knew about it, didn't you?" Lynn growled, leaning closer and closer to the furry creature. "You're almost always around wherever Lily is, so why didn't you do something about it? What were you doing that it was more important than stopping Lily from doing that!?"

Then, the unthinkable happened: Gemini's tail swung at Lynn's face, and hit her right in the cheek, doing so hard enough to not only leave a print on it, but also knock out a tooth from her as they explained:

" _If we had learned about it earlier, we could've prevented it, but sadly, we weren't informed of what was going on until after the core had reached its Penumbra state._ "

Lynn touched her smacked cheek and rubbed it as she glared at the creature, who continued:

" _All we could do at that moment was send one of you to go provide assistance, because the alternative would be to leave Girl Jordan and Lily to fend for themselves._ "

"But why didn't you call all of us at once?! We would've dropped everything we were doing to go help them!" Lynn snapped. "Who the heck did you send, anyway!?"

" _Isn't it obvious?_ " Gemini turned to look at the jock. " _We sent someone trustworthy._ "

And then Karma slammed their hammer down twice, silencing the room.

"Order in the court!" the giant head exclaimed. "Once Mrs. Loud's interrogation is over, we'll interogate the creature, but until then, everybody be silent!"

Silence filled the room, with Lynn glaring at Gemini as the humanoid badger promptly asked:

"So, you and Girl Jordan allowed a core of darkness to reach its Penumbra stage. What did this "Penumbra Core" look like when it reached that stage?"

Lily looked everywhere as she tried to think of what to say. She looked at the stands, but everybody looked just as worried as her. She looked at Girl Jordan, but she looked like she had completely given up.

Finally, she took a deep breath, said:

"It... looked like Dana."

Everybody gasped once more, with Franziska throwing a smug look at Phoenix before she turned back to Lily and said:

"As it can be inferred, the visage by which the core blossomed closer into its Shadow personification, was the same one as the female human named Dana, who turned into an ultimate darkness known as an Eclipse, correct?"

"Geez, my sisters thought Gemini was wordy, but I think I found someone even worse," the girl answered, before she shrugged, "But yeah, it did look like that."

Franziska smirked. "And what did the original penumbra core, the one that gave Girl Jordan the idea to try and replicate the process, look like?"

Lily started sweating bullets. "U-Um, w-well..."

Finally, she gave up:

"It looked like her."

The sisters and the courthouse gasped in horror, while Mrs. Johnson and Gemini looked neutral, no doubt having seen that coming. As for Clyde, he scratched his chin in thought, wondering what this could mean.

"And finally, to end this interrogation, is it true that the girl Dana became an Eclipse, _after_ you had attempted the experiment?"

Lily nodded silently.

"And that's the end of my interrogation, Your Wiseness," Franziska said before they turned to the giant head. "So, from what we have gathered, Your Wiseness: Girl Jordan not only attacked a fellow Lux Aura, and not only did she allowed not one, but two cores of darkness to almost turn into Shadows, but the second Penumbra was a hint of what would come next: Dana's corruption into an Eclipse."

Murmurs were heard all over the courthouse, as the badger added:

"Before I end this interrogation, let me ask the jury a question: If the girl shown in the visage, Dana, became an Eclipse after the penumbra had been reached, shouldn't the same possibility be applicable to Girl Jordan? The prosecution rests."

The badger jumped back to their stand, and Lily and Girl Jordan met as they walked back to their spots.

"I'm sorry, Girl Jordan," Lily said with a nervous smile. "I guess I didn't do a very good job in proving your innocence, did I?"

"Nah, it's my fault for piling up evidence after evidence against me," Girl Jordan answered, smiling as well as she said, "Really, the fact you bothered to speak for my sake probably bought me a few more minutes to clear my mind."

Girl Jordan brushed Lily's head. "Thanks for that."

"Oh save your faked kindness for after the verdict," Franziska stated, before they turned to the head. "Now, Your Wiseness, if you'd please-"

"The verdict won't be passed yet."

A pregnant silence followed between the duo, until the badger suddenly snapped:

"Why not?!"

"We made a promise, and it must be fulfilled," Karma stated. "We will now interrogate the creature known as, Gemini, for the responsibility of Girl Jordan's actions!"

And just as everybody turned to the creature, Gemini was teleported from the stand to the defendant stand... were in their current posture, they didn't even reach half the height of the thing.

Seeing that, Mrs. Johnson immediately jumped down, walked to the stand, and allowed the creature to get on her shoulders as she looked straight at the giant head fearlessly.

"Will you testify for the creature's innocence, Mrs. Johnson?" Karma inquired.

"Not really, I'm just here so you can see Gemini as you interrogate them, but if you want me to testify regardless, I will," the woman explained, before she lifted the bag. "And besides, I also got something to show, just in case it's needed."

Karma raised an eyebrow. "Is it relevant to the case?"

The woman smiled with confidence. "It's concrete evidence."

Franziska and Phoenix exchanged confused looks.

"Very well, the court accepts this bag as evidence," Karma stated, with them slamming their hammer twice as the bag was transported to Phoenix's hand. "Now, we will begin with the interrogation proper."

All eyes were on Gemini and Mrs. Johnson as the giant head asked:

"Gemini, you're the creature responsible for the creation of lux Auras, right?"

The creature nodded. " _Yes._ "

"And you watch over their progress and training, acting like their mentor, in a sense?"

" _Yes._ "

"Do you, therefore, accept responsbility for Girl Jordan's actions?"

Gemini shook their heads and promptly explained:

"We're afraid you're mistaken: We weren't the ones Girl Jordan bonded with, therefore, her activites are not our concern."

The Eclipse Trio's eyes widened.

"But, if Girl Jordan didn't bond with you, then who-" Phoenix asked incredulously.

"Oh, they're in the bag," Mrs. Johnson stated.

Phoenix promptly presented and opened the bag, allowing Divisu to jump out and come into view. Though they froze in place once they realized they had all eyes on them.

"So, this is the one Girl Jordan bonded with?" Karma asked. "Therefore, her actions are their responsibility, right?"

Divisu sweated a little, then immediately returned to the bag and sealed shut.

"I'll assume that's a no," Karma turned back to Gemini. "Now, final question: You've surely seen Girl Jordan in action, do you think she was like that before the bonding?"

" _Well-_ "

"That can't be the case!"

Everybody turned to see the prosecutor Franziska slamming their arms down the table, getting Karma's attention, in particular.

"What can't be the case, prosecution?" the giant head inquired.

"Girl Jordan can't have been different before the bonding! She just can't!" Franziska snapped, as a crack appeared on their body. "She's always been a pessimistic downer!"

"Prosecution, that is a very heavy accusation indeed," Karma stated, gaining a crack as well. "Do you have any basis to believe such a thing?"

Franziska slammed their hands down once again.

"Because I've seen her being like that!"

Suddenly, Karma, Phoenix, and Franziska's forms started cracking, with the courthouse also slowly cracking apart as the Eclipses started cracking themselves, then shattered completely, revealing their true forms.

Mollie's Eclipse's true form resembled her, wearing an attorney suit and with her hair tied in a ponytail. That, and her eyes quite visibly glew a golden color.

 **\- Eclipse of True Defense, Counsel -**

Joy's Eclipse's true form resembled her, also wearing a suit, though this one resembled one worn by a prosecutor. Her eyes visibly glew golden as well.

 **\- Eclipse of True Interrogation, Count -**

Finally, Kat's Eclipse's true form resembled... well, you get the idea now. She was wearing a cloak covering her whole body, and her hair had grown in length and gained a white color, probably trying to invoke the hair of a judge.

And like the last two, her eyes glew golden.

 **\- Eclipse of True Judgement, Court -**

" _There it is, they've shown their true selves!_ " Lily mentally chirped. " _Now all that's left to do is expose the truth about what Clyde learned!_ "

"I believe we've found out something that needs to be elaborated on," Court stated, slamming her hammer down once before she added, "Therefore, I call to the stand, the prosecutor."

Count jumped from her stand and landed on the defendant's stand, shooting a glare at Girl Jordan as the archer growled:

"Can't you walk normally to the stand or something!?"

"You be quiet, you... you... pessimist!" Count hissed, pointing straight at the girl as she added, "I was right there when you decided to ruin everything for everyone! When you decided to spread sadness all around the classroom!"

Court raised an eyebrow. "Prosecution, please, do explain."

"Gladly..."

 ** _Flashback..._**

 _Joy sat on her chair, and looked around the classroom, until she noticed Lincoln's empty chair. Then she looked around, and saw her classmates' frowns._

 _"With the news of Lincoln's disappearance, everybody who knew him well became saddened over the loss of their friend."_

 _Joy got up on her desk, and began juggling a few things, getting her classmates' attention and causing them to laugh._

 _"I was already known as a class clown back then, so, I did the only thing I could think of: Try to keep everybody's spirits up."_

 _Joy looked around with pride._

 _"But there was one person I could never cheer up."_

 _It was pretty clear who that person was._

 _"Girl Jordan."_

 _Joy looked at the girl sympathetically._

 _"Ever since Lincoln disappeared, she had been sad, depressed, just generally sad in usual. So, of course, I tried to cheer her up many times."_

 _Joy walked to the girl, and doing her best to smile, she tried to get the girl's attention while still juggling._

 _"But every time, it was always the same: She rejected me."_

 _Girl Jordan slapped Joy's hand away and stood up before she walked away, with the girl looking at her with concern as she vanished from her sight._

 _"And, no matter what I did, she never smiled... she never cheered up..."_

 ** _Back in the Present..._**

"It felt so frustrating!" Count snapped, grabbing and pulling her hair. "We were all hiding our pain as best as we could, trying to keep up the idea we weren't affected by his disappearance when in fact, we were all in pain!"

Count glared at Girl Jordan. "And then she entered the picture, looking all sad and aloof, and when people didn't ask her to hide it, it made it feel like we were all just wasting our time!"

Girl Jordan frowned. "I'm sorry, Joy, I didn't know-"

"That's the problem!" Count snapped, slamming her hands down the stand. "While everybody's trying their best to keep their hopes up, you're out there being all pessimistic and spreading it to everybody else!"

"Count, I believe that's enough, please return to your stand," Court stated. "Alright, with this in mind, it has been confirmed that Girl Jordan's property damage and general abrasive attitude, were not made with explicit malice, and were the result of Lincoln and Lisa going missing, respectively."

Girl Jordan sighed in relief, and Lily patted her back, causing the girl to look at her with confusion before she looked away and blushed.

"Is there anything anybody in the court would like to add?" the judge inquired.

"I do!" Clyde exclaimed, raising his arm before he exclaimed, "Gemini and Divisu are the key to discovering what happened to Lincoln and Lisa: If they're taken to the center of Lisa's former laboratory, we'll supposedly find out what happened to them."

"Hmm, while that might be an important detail, it doesn't change the fact that Lincoln and Lisa's disappearance is still inconclusive," Court added as she got ready to slam down her hammer. "So, in face of the evidence, and the definite case that one more thing must be done to reach a conclusion, we find the accused, Jordan Johnson."

A drumroll was heard.

"Not Guilty!"

The invisible audience cheered as Court slammed down her hammer twice, then charged the third as she exclaimed:

"Court is adjourned!"

The third hammer slam caused her stand to crack, with the cracks expanding all across the courthouse until everything shattered into pieces, returning everybody back to the real world.

Shortly after, Court, Count, and Acquittal transformed back into Kat, Joy, and Mollie... only their exposed cubes had a ring of darkness surrounding them.

"Huh, that's a neat look," Lola said, only to get a look from everybody as she corrected, "But it's only neat in looks, it's probably very bad in... everything else."

"Why haven't our cubes cleaned the darkness completely, though?" Kat inquired. "Once an Eclipse is beaten, their core or cube or whatever of darkness is cleansed, right?"

" _Since your Eclipses were based around the concept of a trial, even if it was like one that would be run by kangaroos, their existence is tied to the trial's outcome,_ " Gemini explained as they walked towards the trio. " _By clearing your hidden doubts that Girl Jordan or somebody close to Lincoln were guilty, you managed to clean them enough to turn you back to normal._ "

"Wait, if an Eclipse is tied to a concept, and it can be dealt with by finishing that concept," Luna narrowed her eyes. "Then why was it necessary to take out the core of darkness from Dana by force when she turned into Iago?"

" _Dana wasn't a Lux Aura, so her Eclipse didn't have a concept to attach to; The closest thing she had was her desire to be a Lux Aura,_ " Gemini answered. " _Only Eclipses born from a Lux Aura have their existence tied to a concept, and thus can be defeated by dealing with the concept itself, assuming its a finite concept._ "

"And how do we clean them completely?"

" _By reaching the conclusion of the trial,_ " the creature stated. " _Which means heading to the laboratory, placing Divisu and us on the center of the laboratory, and then unlocking the laboratory's true form in order to discover the truth once and for all._ "

Then, Gemini went in the middle of both groups as they said:

" _Only then, can not only the trial be resolved, and thus completely clean your cubes of light..._ "

Then they glanced at both teams.

" _But the Loud siblings can finally find out what happened that caused their brother and sister to go missing._ "

"And you're just going to go along with it?" Lynn asked, raising an eyebrow. "After lying to us, being threatened, and interrogated?"

Gemini lowered their head. " _You're tired of looking for answers and coming back empty-handed, aren't you? If the only way to learn the truth is to reveal everything by my and Divisu's power, then so be it. There's no point in us resisting anymore._ "

"And that's better for us," Lori answered before she turned to the rockstar and the comedian. "Luna, Luan, literally take us to the laboratory!"

The duo nodded, and as they jumped first and lead everybody to the laboratory, Lily looked at Girl Jordan with a reassuring look, and the pair grabbed each other's hands before they joined the rest.


	11. Episode VI: Revelation (Part 1)

**Okay, now comes the sixth episode, and trust me, you're going to get quite a shock reading this. Or maybe not, who knows?**

 **First, let's answer some reviews:**

 **1) Nobody245: Yes, that's the game. I actually really like that game.**

 **And now, to the chapter!**

* * *

The Loud sisters, Girls Jordan, Mollie, Kat, Joy, Gemini, and Mrs. Johnson stood outside the abandoned laboratory, with the last one still carrying the bag containing Divisu, who, judging by the erratic movements of the bag, still continued to try break free.

"So, this is the place where Lincoln and Lisa were working at before they went missing," Lynn remarked, before she threw an angry look at Gemini. "Why did you only tell Luna and Luan about this, instead of all of us?"

" _The place is highly unstable due to several **explosive** incidents concerning the one known as Lisa Loud,_" Gemini answered, causing the sisters to wince, even Luan. " _Therefore, the more people that came in there, the higher the chance that somebody could get hurt._ "

"And now you're okay with letting literally over a dozen people enter this time?" Lori bluntly pointed out."

" _You have a Lux Knight in the form of Mrs. Johnson to accompany you, so as long as you're with her, any potential threat should be easily dispatched of,_ " the creature said as they walked towards the door. " _Plus, the fact that Luna and Luan came out of the place with no scratches or bruises confirms that it isn't dangerous for a large group of people to enter the building._ "

Once the creature stepped on the "Welcome" mat, the doors opened, and they turned to the team and said:

" _We'll go ahead in order to guide you towards the center of the building. You focus on following us, and remember, don't let Divisu escape._ "

With that said, the creature jumped forward, and the team immediately followed them deeper into the laboratory. They kept following

"So, hey, Gemini?" Lily asked, hoping she got the creature's attention as she added, "When we were discussing the possibility of you being a creation of Lincoln and Lisa a week or so ago, you disappearing soon after was just a coincidence, right?"

The creature stopped... then looked around before they pointed at a direction and said:

" _Over here!_ "

They then continued to run, while Lily frowned at the fact she seemed to be ignored by the creature, even after the two sharing the closest thing Gemini had to a friendly relationship with one of the sisters.

"Hey, furhat!" Lynn snapped. "Lily asked you a question! When are you going to answer it!?"

" _You're about to earn all the answers you need in a moment, all you need to do is be a little more patient,_ " Gemini answered, focusing solely on the road ahead. " _Any answer I could provide right now would be rendered redundant when the answers will come once Divisu and I unlock this place's true form._ "

The jock growled, but decided to keep her anger to herself until everybody was taken to the center of the laboratory.

The floor had a card theme, with the floor forming a giant spade, the ceiling forming a heart, and the walls forming either diamonds or clubs, which circulated across the room. Not only that, but besides the card theme and some doors leading to who knows where, it was surprisingly... empty.

"Well, this isn't ominous at all," Lynn remarked as she and the rest looked around. "What this is, though, is somewhat... I don't know, redundant?"

"Yeah, someone would usually leave a theme for an important room, that I understand," Lucy answered, looking around as well. "But why a card theme? It fits with Lincoln, at least, but in general, it just makes it look... I don't know, weird?

"Yeah," Leni sighed. "Woe betide the idiot that chose to use this theme, thinking it would be cool."

Everybody threw confused looks at the fashionista.

"What?" Leni pointed at a sign at the start of the room. "That's, like, literally what it says here."

With that clarified, Gemini walked to one half of the giant spade on the floor, then sat down before they said:

" _Release Divisu so it can step on this spades symbol, please._ "

"Don't give us orders: You're not trustworthy enough to do that anymore!" Lynn snapped, before she turned to the redheaded woman. "Mrs. Johnson, can you do it?"

Mrs. Johnson rolled her eyes, and opened the bag as she said: "What's the point of telling them not to give us orders, if we're just going to do what they ask of us anyway?"

The creature came out of the bag, and seeing their situation, they stood up, shook their head and walked to the symbol, growling:

" _Tsk, guess there's no other way around this, huh?_ _You humans are just too persistent for your own good._ "

"Oh, shut up, Darkdeath Evilcat," Lynn growled as she looked sternly at the creature. "Sit on that thing already so we can get this over with."

" _Fine, alright, I'm on it,_ " Divisu said as they sat down. " _I just want to let you know that after the laboratory shows its true form, you lose the right to complain about whatever you discover._ "

"Doesn't matter," Lori stated. "As long as we find out what happened to Lincoln and Lisa, it's literally worth it."

Gemini hummed. " _We'll see about that._ "

Just then, the entire laboratory began shaking violently, and after a few more seconds, everybody felt it taking off from the ground, with the symbols all glowing brightly as Gemini and Divisu stated in unison:

" _By the way, there's something we forgot to tell you._ "

"Right, what else is new?" Girl Jordan rolled her eyes.

"What did you forget to tell us?" Lily asked.

Suddenly, pieces of the center of the laboratory started cracking, and they continued to crack as the creatures said, again in unison:

" _We're afraid you'll have to be separated for this revelation._ "

One bright light later, and everybody had been separated, and were now in the middle of a new part of the laboratory.

On one place, filled with diamonds and clubs, was a team composed of Lily, Girl Jordan, Kat, Mollie, Joy, and Mrs. Johnson.

On another place, filled with hearts and spades, was a team composed of the Loud sisters, and Clyde.

Both teams were confused at first, but they decided to shake off that confusion for later, and go down whatever path they had gotten, in their quest to find out the truth about whatever happened to Lincoln and Lisa.

"Geez, first they withdraw information, then they separate us when we're getting close to finding out the truth?" Girl Jordan asked, placing her arms behind her head. "That girl Liberty better have been honest with what she told to Clyde, because I'm sick of these information-withholding jerks."

"Well, so far, the part about the mentors revealing the laboratory's true form was true," Lily remarked. "So, at the very least, you could say she's been more honest than Gemini and Divisu so far, right?"

"Hmph, let's see if we do find out what happened to Lincoln and Lisa here, then we'll decide if she's really been more honest than them," Girl Jordan growled.

Lily frowned. "Alright, sounds fair enough."

"Say, even if the place reached its true form, we're only seeing how it truly looks on the inside," Mollie answered, taking a look aronud. "How do you think it's going to look on the outside?"

"We can find that out later," Joy answered as she grabbed and looked at her cube. "For now, we need to discover the truth so we can clean our cubes. Who knows what'll happen if we leave them like this for too long."

Just then, Lily stopped and thought of something:

"Come to think of it, nobody has ever figured out what those things are for, right?"

The rest of the group stopped as Kat asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, obviously, we use them in order to transform into our Lux Aura forms, and back into our base forms," Lily said as she grabbed her cube and looked at it quizzically. "But besides that, nobody has ever wondered what these things are for? I mean, I don't think we even know _what_ they're called."

"Now that you mention it," Mrs. Johnson folded her arms. "I _was_ planning to ask Gemini about what these things were. I guess everything that's been happening made me forget about it."

"It's a bit too late to try figure out what they're supposed to be, really," Girl Jordan answered, putting her hands on her hips. "Besides, if you had tried to figure out what they were earlier, Johnson, who's to say Gemini or Divisu or whoever we asked wouldn't have hid the information from us?"

"Well, somebody's savvy."

Just then, a shadowy figure fell down from the skies and landed close to the group, with the fall causing some of the diamond and club pieces to fall and shatter as the being said:

"Then again, that's probably why you've been through so much agony, isn't it?"

Girl Jordan narrowed her eyes. "Divisu?"

The figure answered "Not exactly" as they took a couple steps forward and revealed who they were:

Lisa, but with her labcoat covering her body.

"Lisa!" Lily chirped. "You're okay!"

Then the girl narrowed her eyes and clenched a fist, her smile frozen in her face. "Which kinda angers me because we've been worried sick about you all this time, but I'm still happy you're alright!"

"So, this is the sister that went missing?" Girl Jordan inquired as she took a closer look at the girl. "I gotta admit, I wasn't expecting-"

"I wouldn't take another step," Lisa answered as she slowly turned to the duo, her glasses obscuring her eyes. "If I were you."

Both girls took a step back.

"L-Lisa," Lily stuttered. "I-Is that you?"

"Why yes, Lily Loud, the one you're looking at is Lisa, your dear older sister," Lisa snickered. "But she's not the same Lisa you loved from back then."

The scientist toddler opened her coat and spread it, revealing a space-like interior to it, and black bodysuit with green highlights, as she proclaimed:

"She's now the master over all Eclipses!"

 **\- Master of the Eclipses, Lisa Loud -**

A few seconds after the subtitles vanished and the rest of the team gasped in horror, Lily processed what this meant and exclaimed:

"Wait, what?!"

 ** _Meanwhile, with the other team..._**

The group of the Loud sisters, and Clyde, continued walking down the Spades-Heart section of the laboratory, with no particular idea on whether they were going the right direction or not.

"Well, let's try look at the bright side," Luan remarked, getting everyone's attention. "Even if we've been lied to all this time, and the place to find out what happened to Link and Lisa was right in front of our noses all along, at least we'll finally find out what happened to them."

"Yeah, I guess that's literally the best thing we could hope for now," Lori said with a nod of agreement.

"Let's just hope that whatever we find out, it justifies them having been gone for so long," Lynn said, taking a deep breath. "I mean seriously, I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be _furious_ if we find out they were alive all along, and they never tried to return home somehow."

"Yeah, it was very difficult to sleep these past few months," Lola remarked. "And as a diva, you know how much I need my beauty sleep to remain as beautiful as I am."

"Forget about the beauty sleep, what about Lincoln and Lisa themselves?" Lana asked. "They were gone for over a month! How would they've been able to sustain themselves that long?!"

"Girls, I think we, like, should stop for now," Leni said, turning her vision to Lucy as she added, "I get the feeling we're upsetting Lucy greatly."

The sisters turned to look at the girl in question, who had her head lowered with a worried expression.

"Sorry about that, Luce," Luna remarked.

"Huh? What?" Lucy asked, looking up and turning to her sisters, only to see Leni gesturing her to play along. "Oh, uh, it's okay, don't worry about it. What matters right now is that we find out the true."

And then, the team came across a peculiar showcase of tubes, which Luna and Luan immediately recognized:

"These are the experiments we talked about before!" they said in unison.

Then they ran ahead to some of the experiments, with the sisters and Clyde following suit.

"Look, this is the magical mentor project we mentioned before Gemini disappeared to who knows where!" Luna stated, bringing focus to the broken tube. "And it says here that both Lincoln and Lisa worked on it!"

"While these ones over here just say "Lisa only," Luan said, pointing at the tubes next to her. "And what's more, there are far more "Lisa only" experiments than ones that are from both Lisa and Lincoln!"

"Well, that makes sense," Lynn shrugged and shook her head. "After all, normal people like Lincoln can only keep up with Lisa for so long. He probably helped her with that mentor project, then decided to be moral support so his brain wouldn't short circuit."

Then, Lori turned around, and saw Clyde staring at an unopened tube, prompting her to walk to his side and ask:

"What's wrong, Clyde?"

The boy slowly pointed at the tube. "T-This tube's name..."

Lori raised an eyebrow. "What's up with it?"

Clyde hesitated...

"It says "Liberty" here..."

The sisters flinched at the statement, and walked to the guy's side as Lori asked, "Does it say if literally Lisa or both she and Lincoln worked on it?"

"It doesn't, but what I care about is the fact it says Liberty at all," Clyde frowned. "However, this can't be possible: Liberty was very clearly out there, as a rabbit. She turned me into a Lux Squire..."

"Calm down, Clyde," Lynn said as she helped the boy stand up. "Freaking out won't help anybody."

"I know, but, this doesn't make any sense!" Clyde said, narrowing his eyes. "If this is the Liberty I think it is, then who the heck was the Liberty that turned me into a Lux Squire?!"

"Remember what Gemini said: We'll, like, get all the answers we seek eventually," Leni remarked.

"Honestly, maybe we shouldn't trust Gemini anymore," Lana stated with a tone of weariness. "They've hid way too many things and acted way too suspiciously recently."

And as the rest of the sisters agreed, Leni couldn't help but look a bit disheartened. "Yeah, I guess they, like... might not've been honest."

"So that could mean the Liberty here is the Liberty that supposedly turned me into a Lux Squire, and the Liberty I saw was... what?" Clyde folded his arms and shook his head. "Ugh, I can't think of anything to explain this: I need to find out more info about this."

"Then how about you see how deep the rabbit hole goes?"

Everybody turned around, and saw a rabbit standing nearby, right next to a heart-shaped hole, in fact. And right behind them, was a dead-end.

This prompted Lori to ask, "Is that the Liberty you're talking about, Clyde?"

"No, Lori, I'm sure that's just a random rabbit Lisa used as a guinea pig," Lynn said, rolling her eyes. "And I only mean that with half the sarcasm, by the way: Knowing Lisa, she probably did try to use rabbits or other animals as guinea pigs for this project, whatever it is."

"There's nowhere else to go guys," the rabbit spoke. "Nowhere to go but down."

Suddenly, the tiny animal jumped down the hole, prompting the team to follow them down as well. They fell down a large void filled with hearts, clocks, and several other bizarre imagery, with the rabbit paying no attention to them as they somehow plummeted down the ground, and through a spades-shaped hole.

"I have several questions about that," Clyde remarked once he saw the hole.

There was no time to ask, however: The team went through the hole, and landed face-first on the ground... except for Leni. Then, they stood up, and looked around the new location.

It was a giant corridor, with windows showing that the laboratory was now flying up in the sky, overlooking the entire city. Not only that, but spades and hearts were plastered across the walls, with the walls themselves spinning around as the rabbit slowly fell down, then landed safely on its feet.

And then the walls stopped.

"Okay, ignoring the spinning walls just a moment ago," Lana said, before she pointed at the rabbit. "How did you enter the portal first, but only landed after we did!?"

The rabbit giggled and promptly transformed, assuming the form of Liberty, which immediately caused everybody to take a battle stance, even Clyde.

"Every magician has their secrets," the girl answered with another giggle.

"So, you're the one called Liberty, huh?" Lynn asked, cracking her knuckles. "Well, girl, the charade's up! We know you can't be the real Liberty!"

Liberty raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"We saw a tube earlier that had the title "Liberty" in it, which literally hasn't even been opened yet," Lori answered with a stern tone. "So, how do you literally explain that?"

The snow-haired kid giggled. "I guess there were a couple of things we forgot to take into account."

Then they turned around, and spoke with a masculine voice, "Alright, you win, I'm not Liberty."

The voice shook everyone.

"W-Wait, that voice..." Clyde stuttered. "That's..."

Liberty wrapped herself in a cape of light, and promptly threw it away after spinning inside it for a while, seemingly not doing anything.

But there was one significant difference: The one wearing it was none other than Lincoln.

 **\- Master of the Lux Beings, Lincoln -**

"Lincoln?!" Clyde exclaimed. "W-Wait, you're a girl now?"

"Of course not, although I wouldn't blame you, I'd have the same question if I was in your place," Lincoln answered, shrugging and shaking his head. "Alas, the truth is a little bit harsher, believe it or not."

Lynn pounded her fists and dashed straight for Lincoln, before she delivered a punch right to his face.

However, Lincoln not only blocked the attack, but he did so with a gauntlet made of light, creating another just as Lynn swung her free fist, blocking it as well.

The siblings exchanged a couple of fists with each other, until they were throwing them left and right, until Lincoln punched Lynn hard enough to send her flying back to the sisters.

"I can understand your anger," Lincoln said as the gauntlets dissipated into nothing. "But all I ask is that you wait just a little bit. There's another party that needs to be brought here."

"Another party?" Leni asked, only to realize who it was. "Lily?!"

 ** _Meanwhile, back with the other team..._**

Lisa was bombarded with several sets of arrows from Girl Jordan, who kept shooting them as Lily, Mollie, Kat, and Joy tried to hold her back.

"Girl Jordan, please, stop!" Lily begged to Girl Jordan's deaf ears. "That's my sister you're attacking!"

"I don't care if she's your sister or not!" Girl Jordan snapped as she prepared another arrows. "You heard what she said! She's the master of the Eclipses! She's the one behind them! She's-"

Then, Girl Jordan noticed the arrow she grabbed was one of the purple, "empowering" arrows she used on the Eclipse, causing her to throw it away and drop her bow, finally allowing the trio to overpower her.

Lisa then morphed into a shadowy version of herself, and slid across the floor until she reached the arrow, wherein she turned back to her physical form and grabbed it.

"I see, so this is the thing that you used in order to empower the Eclipses," Lisa remarked as she took a very close look at the arrow. "Well, I say that in plural, but it's just as likely that you only ever empowered one Eclipse, right?"

Girl Jordan narrowed her eyes, which glew golden right before Mrs. Johnson jumped in between her gaze, turning them back to normal.

"Mrs. Loud, it's quite likely that you're not going to listen to what I have to say," the teacher said, earning an amused look from the scientist. "But all we want from you is to answer some questions: Mostly about why you went missing."

"Ah yes, the question of the millenium, the one thing that has been unsolved for so long, for whatever reason," Lisa replied, with the last parting seething with exasperation. "I mean, I'm me! Did nobody ever figure out what could've happened that would force me to go missing for months?!"

Lily released Girl Jordan and walked to Mrs. Johnson's side, looking at her sister as she exclaimed:

"What were we supposed to figure out?!"

Lisa blinked twice, looking legitimately shocked. "D-Didn't you watch the videotapes?"

"We did, but none of them gave us a hint or a clue as to what happened to you!" Lily replied. "At best, all we figured out was that you knew how videotapes worked!"

"But... that's impossible..." the scientist lowered her head. "Lincoln and I made sure to at least leave out a couple hints in each video... how come none of you got them?"

"So wait, you knew that your project was going to make you go missing for a month," Mrs. Johnson remarked, growing angrier as she added, "And instead of just stopping right then and there, you decided to keep going at it and leave only vague hints in videotapes for your siblings to find?!"

"Well, forgive me for expecting my siblings to be a little smarter than usual," the scientist deadpanly answered. "I simply expected them to exercise their brain cells the same way that Leni did: How were Lincoln and I supposed to expect them to be as stupid her?"

"Leni?" Lily repeated with confusion. "What does Leni have to do with this?"

Lisa looked surprised for a second, before she shook her head and stated, as she summoned a hammer:

"I'm starting to say too much, so let's meet up with everybody else and get this over with."

"Hey, that's my hammer!" Kat exclaimed, before she summoned the hammer itself... with Lisa's copy not vanishing. "It's a copy?!"

Lisa nodded, and moments later, she slammed the hammer on the ground hard enough to cause it to crack, making everybody fall down until they landed at the same place as the other team and Lincoln.

Somehow, this also added diamonds and clubs to the hearts and spades in the walls.

"Lily!" Leni exclaimed with relief. "I'm so glad you're, like, good and everything!"

"Leni, what do you have to do with Lincoln and Lisa going missing?!" the aged-up toddler asked out loud.

This caused not only the fashionista to flinch, but also set all eyes on her as Lisa joined Lincoln and the duo said:

"Well, time to tell you the truth, then..."

 ** _Flashback..._**

 _Lisa narrated as the image showed the duo watching a TV show with Lily, who laughed and clapped at the screen._

 _"A long time ago, Lincoln and I were watching a peculiar tv show while babysitting Lily together. The rest of the family was away that day, and since there wasn't anything else we could do together, we decided to turn the TV on and see what was on it."_

 _The image on the TV showed a redheaded girl with a frilly dress posing and saying cutesy lines._

 _"It was one of those "Magical Girl" shows, about an ordinary high school girl getting magical powers and going on adventures."_

 _After a while, the girl turned back to her base form, which caught the duo's attention._

 _"We sympathized and saw ourselves in the protagonist, who was just an ordinary person when not transformed, and that's when we got an idea."_

 _Lincoln and Lisa scratched their chins._

 _"If an unremarkable, ordinary high school girl could earn magical powers and have magical adventures, and I had the intellect and connections to make that a reality, why not do it?"_

 _Then, they stopped and exchanged looks as they realized something:_

 _"However, we realized that we needed to focus on somebody, otherwise we'd be giving magical powers to everybody, which would eventually lead into uncontrollable chaos."_

 _The pair heard Lily laugh, and they looked at her and smiled._

 _"That's when you entered the picture, Lily."_

 _Lincoln took over the narration as it cut to the duo in the laboratory, working on several of their experiments._

 _"Naturally, we figured that someone who hasn't been exposed to the evils of the world, would be the most pure, innocent person we could hope for. So, we grabbed a bit of your DNA from your hair and analyzed it."_

 _The results blinded the duo._

 _"However, your innocence far exceeded our expectations, to the point the project was almost ruined because it couldn't contain all of your innocence within it."_

 _Then, Lisa got an idea._

 _"That's when the idea for the Shadows came."_

 _Lisa explained to Lincoln her plan as she showed him a blueprint for the Shadows themselves._

 _"You see, you had so much hope, so much bright dreams, that we'd need to create beings created from negativity in order to counteract it."_

 _Then Lincoln added something while the image of an Eclipse appeared above him._

 _"Then, I pointed out to Lisa that, if a being were to be created from someone's negativity, how much negativity could it take before it overpowered the person, and took them over?"_

 _Lisa smiled._

 _"She didn't exactly get what I was talking about."_

 _The duo kept working, with them going from tube to tube as the boy narrated._

 _"Nevertheless, we continued to work on the experiments we had, until we decided to focus on the one that had both the most promise, and the least amount of visible factors that it would fail: The magical mentor."_

 _Then they realized something yet again._

 _"However, we needed to create an artificial body in order to make the mentor in the first place, something which we couldn't confidently do on our own, since the other grown experiments had been considered failures."_

 _Then, the doors opened, and a familiar girl entered._

 _"And that's when Leni came in."_

 _The duo explained their project to Leni._

 _"We explained everything to her, and though it took her a bit to understand, she chirped up once we told her that it was all a gift for Lily, and possibly Royal Woods as well."_

 _Leni frowned and scratched the back of her head._

 _"But then she told us that we had been gone for a long time now, and everybody was getting worried. She said that it would only be a matter of time before they started growing worried sick."_

 _The duo snapped their fingers._

 _"So, we struck a deal with her: If she sewed up an animal plushie for us to use for the project, we'd come back home and spend some time there before going back to it."_

 _The trio shook hands._

 _"Needless to say, she accepted it."_

 _Then it showed the trio alongside their family, eating dinner._

 _"And for a while, we were back home, spending time with our family..."_

 _Then, one day, Leni arrived with a pushie that looked like Gemini._

 _"Until the day Leni had the pushie ready for us."_

 _Back at the laboratory, Leni turned on the camera... then realized the lens were still on before she took them out, turned it off, and turned it back on to record the message Luna and Luan saw their first time there._

 _"Once back at the laboratory, she then helped us film some videotapes in order to give you some form of relief, since we would have to spend quite a lot of time to get the project ready. We also made sure not to mention her name, since we didn't want you to get angry at her, she was only helping us."_

 _Once finished, the videotapes were saved on the room Luna and Luan found them, and Leni cheerfully left._

 _"When they were finished, Leni was supposed to bring the videotapes and hide them, just in case we were gone for too long. However, she forgot to bring them with her."_

 _The duo exchanged amused looks, and turned back to the plushie inside the tube._

 _"But once she left, something weird happened to the experiment."_

 _The plushie began twitching, then split, with the other half somehow becoming black before it ripped itself off... and both plushies regenerated their lost bodies._

 _"It started to split into two copies: The copy was pitch black, with the green eyes replaced with yellow ones."_

 _The plushies turned to look at Lincoln and Lisa, who looked shocked before the tube exploded, consuming the lab with it._

 _"Then they looked at us, and their eyes glew before a great explosion happened, consuming the entire laboratory and leaving it in its ruined state."_

 _Leni, still being close enough to witness the explosion, ran back to the laboratory and somehow returned to the_

 _"When we woke up, we saw Leni looking at us with a horrified expression, and when we looked at our bodies... that's when we got a shock."_

 _The duo turned to some glass shards on the wall, and saw their reflection..._

 _Or more accurately, Gemini and Divisu's reflections._

 _"Our minds and bodies had fused with the plushies."_

 _The creatures then turned to Leni, who looked partially spaced out as they moved around, trying to explain themselves._

 _"We tried to tell Leni what had happened, before she freaked out and told everybody on us or something."_

 _Then, Leni smiled, walked to the duo, and crouched down before she talked to them, coming up with an idea of our own._

 _"She, quite fortunately, believed us, and gave us just enough ideas to still go through with the project for Lily and Royal Woods."_

 _The plushies nodded, and Leni's smile grew wider as she rubbed both their heads, then their bellies._

 _"And so, with Leni's help, we managed to create the Shadows, and continue with the project..."_

 _Then, the screen went pitch black..._

 _"And there you go... that's what happened."_

 _Two pair of eyes, clearly representing Gemini and Divisu, then lit up for a moment before they were joined by a red pair of glowing eyes, with their height suggesting they were much bigger than the creatures, but smaller than Leni._

 _Then the eyes went dim, returning the screen to pure darkness._


	12. Episode VI: Revelation (Part 2)

**Okay, we're at the pivotal end of the middle-series finale for L-UMA, so I guess it's okay for me to take a little break in order to work a bit more on the episode that are still unfinished, right?**

 **Because right now, the next episode is only partially finished. And It'll also help me polish some things, so, yay, win-win situation.**

 **But before we get to the good stuff, let's answer some reviews:**

 **1) Nobody245: Take cover, 'cause we got some bombs coming!**

 **2) ChernoMan: Again, only going to reply to your latest review.**

 *** Thanks, it wasn't that hard to make, but I'm still proud of how it came out.**

 *** Yeah...**

 *** He could still try to make you "bond" with him even as a mat, though...**

 *** May I ask what exactly did I do that made you angry?**

 *** I'll try to keep that in mind, thanks.**

 *** Yeah, kinda should've told everyone about it, Leni.**

 *** Maybe this chapter will help you get clearer thoughts?**

 **And now, to the chapter!**

* * *

Back where we left off, Lincoln and Lisa had finished explaining what happened to them that caused them to go missing, consequently revealing that Leni had helped them to an extent, and that she knew where they had gone during that time.

However, that was the least of the shocking revelations for the Loud family. The far bigger shock came when Lori said:

"We were worried sick for you..."

Lori's fist shook, and the sisters slowly revealed their furious glares as she continued:

"We literally couldn't sleep at night, because we were thinking about what could've happened to you..."

Leni frowned and lowered her head, her hair obscuring her eyes as she walked back and disappeared into the shadows...

"And now... you're telling us... that you and Lisa... were with us all along..."

Lori lifted her head, flashing a glare, and revealing her eyes were glowing golden as she screamed:

"And you literally never told us about it!?"

The eldest sister threw her spear at Lincoln in rage, only for the boy to casually dodge it and quip:

"Be careful there, Lori, your Eclipse is showing."

The girl turned to see a mirror, and saw her eyes glowing yellow, causing her to flinch and turn back as her eyes suddenly turned back to their normal color.

However, a new thing to worry about came when Lynn, Lucy, Lana, and Lola immediately lunged at Lincoln, and the oldest Loud spotted their eyes glowing golden as well.

Not only that, but she then saw Leni was nowhere to be seen...

At least she calmed down a little when she saw Luna and Luan were standing still, their eyes still their normal color.

"I can't say I didn't think this would happen," Luan remarked, scratching the back of her head. "Not that Lincoln and Lisa would be the enemy, but that we wouldn't like the truth."

"But what's worse is that Leni knew about it, and she didn't tell us anything!" Luna added, stomping the ground. "We need to find her and get her to explain herself!"

"I agree, but we can't literally leave Lily and her group to face off the duo alone," Lori answered, looking back at the quartet attacking Lincoln. "We have no idea what Lincoln and Lisa are capable of individually; Leaving Lily and her friends to face them together would be unfair."

"Then let's leave those four to deal with Lincoln, and the other team deals with Lisa," Luna suggested. "Meanwhile, the three of us will search for Leni and confront her!"

Lori hummed. "That does sound like a good idea-"

Suddenly, the team of Lana, Lola, Lucy, and Lynn came crashing at Lori's feet, looking exhausted as they stood up and caught their breath.

"Dang it, nothing we do hurts him, let alone hit him!" Lynn growled.

"Well, if you four can't deal with him, and I doubt all seven of us can do it, then I guess the only option left is to search for Leni together," Lori sighed. "We'll just have to literally hope Lincoln doesn't hurt Lily too badly."

"I'm not going to hurt her."

The team flinched and turned around to see Lincoln, smiling wide as he clarified:

"You heard me: I'm not going to hurt Lily. That's what Lisa's supposed to do, so, if you want me to help protect her-"

"Don't lay a damn finger on anyone!" Lucy suddenly snapped.

"Yeah, after what you revealed, you have no right to act like you're on our side!" Lynn corroborated. "Just stay there, and don't do anything!"

Luan frowned. "Lucy... Lynn..."

The boy frowned as well, and lowered his head. "I understand."

With that, the sisters began their search for Leni, with Clyde looking back at Lincoln one last time before he joined them.

As for Lincoln, he turned around and watched as Lisa looked at the trio of Kat, Mollie, and Joy, whose cubes were slowly covered in darkness as the scientist smirked with delight.

"I believe it's time to put an end to this court case," Kat stated as she aimed her hammer at the girl and said:

"Lisa Loud, you and your brother, Lincoln Loud, are thereby accussed of refusing to acknowledge the consequences of this experiment, being unsympathetic to the people who were worried for you all the time you were missing, living among said people without bothering to reveal your true identities, manipulation of the truth and responsibility for not only the Shadows that plague Royal Woods, but also the Eclipses."

Kat narrowed her eyes and swung her hammer to her side as she said:

"How do you plead?"

Lisa smirked.

"Guilty as charged."

The trio charged forward as their Lux Aura uniforms turned into Umbra Auras uniforms, just like the ones Girl Jordan had, but with different highlights.

Nevertheless, they attacked the toddler relentlessly: Mollie flapped her wings, and Kat and Joy swung their weapons in unison, but each of their attacks were either blocked or dodged by the Eclipsa Queen nonchalantly.

And as this happened, Lily stood in place and watched, as the truth set in.

"You... did what?"

This caused Girl Jordan to turn to the girl and put a hand on her shoulder as she said:

"Well, there was always the chance that the truth of what happened to Lincoln and your sister wouldn't be pleasent."

Girl Jordan glared at the Eclipse master. "I just didn't expect them to be so dang casual about it."

Lily lowered her head. "Gemini and Divisu were Lincoln and Lisa all along... and they created everything we're facing... for me?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Girl Jordan stated, getting the Lavender Lux Aura's attention. "If they really had done this with you in mind, then they would've bothered to think about the possibility you wouldn't like it."

Lincoln flinched at the statement, which was something that Lily, Girl Jordan, and Mrs. Johnson immediately noticed.

"I'm gonna go see if I can open us an exit," Mrs. Johnson stated as she cracked her knuckles. "You two try whatever you can to beat Mr. and Mrs. Loud!"

Girl Jordan nodded with determination, while Lily did so hesitantly, and the redheaded woman literally spun away moments later.

This caught Lincoln's attention of course, but before he could chase after her, Girl Jordan aimed and shot an arrow at him, with the boy being consumed by the explosion as she exclaimed:

"That's for making me worry about you, jerk!"

Lincoln, however, came out of the explosion unscathed and ran away, prompting Girl Jordan to chase after him as she shouted at Lily:

"Remember what I told you, and use it to your advantage!"

Realizing the possibility that she could've been used, Lily nodded, clenched her fists, turned to the fight between Lisa and the trio, and shouted:

"H-Hey, listen!"

But the fight continued.

"Listen!"

Same result.

Eventually, Lily grew exasperated, so she took out her mace and raised it as she yelled:

"I said, Listen!"

The Lavender Lux Aura slammed her mace down, using enough strength to not only crack the ground beneath her, but also cause the entire laboratory to shake, bringing a stop to everything: Lincoln and Girl Jordan's fight, Mrs. Johnson's attempt to create an exit, and Lisa's fight with the judgement trio.

Seeing as she had her attention, Lily yelled at Lisa:

"You and Lincoln never did this for me, did you?!"

The scientist fell silent and narrowed her eyes.

"The whole "we did this for Lily" was just a sham to cover up your real intentions, right?!" she continued. "You did this for yourselves! So you could feel like you're worth something, even if you endangered all of Royal Woods in the process!"

Lisa continued to refuse to give the girl a proper answer, which slowly began upsetting her.

"Lisa..."

 ** _Meanwhile, with the team..._**

"Answer me!"

Those words were shouted by Lori as she and the rest of the team found and approached Leni, who was standing on top of a chandelier.

Now where the heck the chandelier was supposed to be in the room, that was something to ponder for later.

"Leni, you have literally a lot to explain!" Lori added. "Don't make this harder for us, and give us some answers!"

Leni took a deep breath, and looking like she was on the verge of tears, said:

"You already got the answer to what happened to Lincoln and Lisa, and all that did was tick you off."

Then, the teenager turned to face the team and exclaimed:

"And now you want another set of answer that'll do nothing but tick you off some more?!"

"Hey, it's _your_ fault for not telling us about this in the first place!" Lynn snapped, stomping the ground as Lucy added, "If you hadn't acted like a fool like always, you wouldn't be in this situation!"

"Oh really?" Leni glared at Lucy. "Well, if you had told everybody about the big event happening in this year, which Gemini told you about, we wouldn't be this situation either, right!?"

The goth took a couple steps back, as Lynn exclaimed, "That's besides the point!"

"Leni, please, listen to us," Clyde said as he took a couple steps forward. "We're not your enemies; We're your friends. We know you're not doing this because you want to-"

"Clyde, please, stop. Just... stop," Leni rubbed her temples. "How can you have the audacity to say you know I don't want to do this, when you're not even aware of just how far Lisa and Lincoln have gone to plan for everything?!"

Lori's eyes widened. "Lincoln and Lisa planned this ahead?"

"Planned ahead?! Every single thing you've done up to this point, everything you've said, everything you've thought, even everything you've thought about doing but didn't, has been something that Lincoln and Lisa have prepared a backup plan for!" Leni exclaimed, stomping the ground and causing the chandelier to move a bit. "You have no idea how terrifying it is to witness as the people who used to be your siblings calculate everything that could happen later in such a cold, emotionless way..."

Leni looked down and shed a couple tears. "Just as how you have no idea how painful it is to know they're like that because of you."

"Leni, all you did was create the plushies that eventually became Gemini and Divisu," Luna said. "As far as anybody knows, what happened that split them apart and caused Lincoln and Lisa-"

Finally, Leni wiped off her tears and yelled:

"Enough of this!"

Leni pulled a pose, and a dark aura surrounded her, causing the team to stop in shock as it then split from the girl, flew up, and morphed into a creature that looked similar to Leni, but with three pair of arms and eight eyes, not to mention small fangs at the edges of their mouth, and a circle behind her made of webbing.

"I, like, didn't want to use this until the project was finished," Leni remarked. "But you totes have forced my hand!"

The creature snapped her knuckles as Leni proclaimed:

"Prepare to be the first to face my Inner Demon, Arachne!"

 **\- Inner Demon of Lies, Arachne -**

"Great, another thing we got to worry about?" Lynn growled in exasperation. "First there's the Shadows, then the Eclipses, also maybe the Umbra Auras, and now Inner Demons?! Just how much dang stuff did Lincoln and Lisa create!?"

"That's not as important as how strong this thing is!" Luna stated, with most of the sisters nodding in agreement. "If Leni refused to use this, then it has to be something so strong as to serve as her last stand!"

Then she turned to Lori. "What do you think, Lori?!"

The light blue Lux Aura, however, looked blatantly unimpressed.

"That's such an unfitting face for this situation," Luan said, trying to hold back her laughter.

"What is it, Lori?" Lucy inquired. "We're facing something we haven't seen before, shouldn't you be a little bit more on-guard?"

"Guys," Lori said, getting everyone's attention. "It's literally a spider version of Leni."

Then they turned to see Leni, trying to maintain a tough look despite shaking violently, as the oldest sister added:

"Leni's afraid of spiders."

Clyde rolled his eyes. "I can attest to that."

"Oh, so that's the reason she didn't use that thing until now," Luan remarked. "That actually makes a lot of sense: I'd be reluctant to use a secret power within me if it looked like something I was afraid of."

Then, Lynn looked almost disappointed. "Then, it's not strong at all?"

The inner spirit, seemingly hearing the jock's insensitive words, flashed red glowing eyes and shot spider webs from her fingertips, trapping her in a webbed cage as she exclaimed:

"It's a strong one! It's _totally_ a strong one!"

With her power now demonstrated, the rest of the team got into a battle stance, ready to fight their former ally.

 ** _Back with Lisa..._**

"Did you notice just now?"

That was the answer that the scientist gave the aged-up toddler, and the answer that got all eyes on her as she added:

"Lily, we love you. We really do. But if we were to wait for you to grow up before we asked you if you wanted to get involved, then it would be far too late: Everybody would've gone ahead with their lives, and Lincoln and I would've been left behind as the wasted spaces that amounted to nothing."

Lily summoned her mace and gripped it tightly as the scientist continued:

"Of course, you would never understand how it hurts to be the only one in the house with your level of intelligence."

Then, Lisa turned to Lincoln as she added:

"Or the only one in the house without anything to their name."

Lisa turned back to Lily and finished:

"You would've grown up and joined the rest of our sisters in becoming something far more than just the youngest Loud, while Lincoln and I would rot and be forgotten. Going through the project, while using you as a cover to make it seem more noble, was the only one to gain meaning to our existence-"

"Shut up!"

Lily leaped forward and slammed her mace right at Lisa's face, only for the scientist to block it with dark arms and hold it back as Lily snapped:

"Stop making your actions sound more noble than they are! Stop making you and Lincoln sound like the biggest victims! You're nothing more than the bad guys!"

Lisa shot the dark arms, sending Lily flying away before she then turned to the judgement trio and Girl Jordan, with her eyes glowing golden moments after. With this, Girl Jordan and the judgement trio felt a headache for a little while, until it stopped...

And they stood upright, without the ability to move their muscles.

"Girl Jordan, Kat, Joy, and Mollie," Lisa started, all eyes falling on her as she pointed at Lily and proclaimed, "Shoot your darkness at the Lux Aura, and let her be consumed by it!"

"Shoot their what?!" Lily shouted with a mixture of shock and confusion.

And then, the girl was bombarded with a barrage of arrows, followed by some gusts of wind, a hammer to the head, and a stick as well.

However, the thing that actually caught everyone's attention was that, in the spots where the arrows hit her, Lily's body began being covered in a dark matter, with it going slow enough to ask Lisa:

"How did you do it? How are you able to control Girl Jordan, and her friends like that?!"

"I'm the Master of the Eclipses, dear sister," Lisa sternly answered. "The Umbra Auras are extensions of those Eclipses. They're part of my domain."

"That doesn't explain how you can just take control of their minds and change their bodysuits for full body armor!" Lily pointed out. "How-"

"Ugh, would you stop being so dang inquisitive all the time!?" Lisa snapped, stomping the ground. "Just allow yourself to be consumed by the darkness and despair and all that stuff already!"

Lily's eyes widened in shock as the scientist then added:

"Get it through your head: We used you! Lincoln and I both! You had a purpose in our scheme, and now that it's done, there's no more need for you to hold on to this stupid thing called hope!"

Lily's vision progressively grew blurry as the darkness started consuming her.

"So fall to despair and give up on everything! And maybe then, you'll see things from our perspectives."

And at last, the darkness completely covered the girl's form, with Girl Jordan and the judgement trio shedding tears, with their faces still frozen in a stern, neutral look.

"Well, what's done is done," Lisa sighed. "She should give up on everything and turn into an Umbra Aura any minute now."

Girl Jordan then slowly turned around, and glared at the dark scientist, who simply snapped her fingers and forced her to look forward as she hissed:

"Oh, don't even try to give me that look, missy! I got you under control; You're now being the puppet you were always meant to be. So sit there, and wait for Lily to join our ranks."

Despite being completely covered in darkness, however, Lily's form didn't change, nor did she gain a peculiar aura or mist after a while. In fact, it seemed like nothing was happening at all.

Until a beam of light came out of her...

And then another, and another, and another, and one more that actually struck Girl Jordan...

Until finally, the girl clenched her fists, spread her arms wide and screamed as the darkness covering her was extinguished, and she revealed a new form.

It was similar to Mrs. Johnson and Girl Jordan, in that it was a knight armor that covered her body except for her head. However, instead of being red, or black with golden highlights, it was silver, with golden highlights all around it.

And this was an outfit that got a reaction out of Lisa. One of shock, to be exact.

"I-Impossible... there's no way you could've achieved that form yet!" the master of eclipses stated, taking a couple steps back. "I mean, there was always the possibility of you achieving it, but-"

Shortly after that, Girl Jordan narrowed her eyes, and managing to move her arms slightly, she broke away from Lisa's control long enough to shoot an arrow at her leg, causing her control over the rest of the trio to come off as well.

And as she hit the ground, the judgement trio and Girl Jordan aimed their weapons at her.

"Alright, you've had your shot, now's our turn to ask questions!" Girl Jordan hissed, leaning the arrow closer to Lisa's face as she asked, "Now tell us, what the heck is going on with Lily!?"

"There's an intermediary state between a Lux Aura and an Umbra Aura: A state that's not completely filled with hope, but it's not been completely devoured by despair either," Lisa explained. "But it was only a hypothetical state Lincoln and I dubbed..."

Lisa turned back at Lily, who got ready to slam her mace down again.

"The Twilight Aura."

The girl slammed the mace, and the resulting hit caused the entire laboratory to shake, almost making everyone drop to the ground.

This included Leni and the team, the former who caught a glimpse of what was going on down before she snapped her fingers and made Arachne return to her, saying:

"Well, if that's not a signal to get out of here, then I, like, don't know what is."

And then, just before Leni could run away, her leg was wrapped with some strings that came from one of the members of the team.

"For real, Luan? First a rubber chicken, then an array of pranks, and now strings?! Pick one single weapon, will you!?" Leni snapped before she turned around and yelled, "And also, those are, like, supposed to be my weapon!"

But the one who summoned the strings wasn't Luan, and in fact, it wasn't any of the Loud siblings.

It was Clyde.

"Oh, well, I guess that's a little bit better," Leni narrowed her eyes. "Stil, I don't appreciate the fact someone other than me can use strings."

"Leni, whatever's going on, we're not letting you get away!" Clyde exclaimed.

Leni shook her head and took a deep breath before she snapped her fingers, trapping everyone in string-like webbing as she stood up, broke Clyde's strings and said:

"Save that for when you're not facing someone who has more experience with her powers than you."

And with that said, the girl then wrapped everyone inside a large ball of yawn, and began swinging them around as Lincoln appeared with Lisa, and blinded everyone with a flash of light as he grabbed the girl and fled.

"I told you that Lily would unlock the Twilight Aura state," Lincoln stated as he helped the scientist stand up. "If there's someone in our family who could've done it, it was her-"

"Oh shut up, will you!" Lisa snapped as she grabbed and took off the arrow. "That must've been a fluke! Nothing more!"

Then, she looked around. "Where's Leni?"

The duo turned around, and saw Leni throwing the large ball of strings at the wall, with them barely dodging the incoming ball before it crashed through it, giving the trio a way to escape.

As for Lily and everyone else, the girl went back to her Lux Aura form and nearly collapsed, until Girl Jordan ran to her side and helped her stand up.

"H-Huh? What happened?" Lily asked, rubbing her head.

"You helped us, that's what happened," Girl Jordan answered, gently helping the girl stand up. "Now the only thing left to do is get out of here."

Lily frowned. "But what about Lincoln, Lisa, and Leni?"

Girl Jordan put a hand on Lily's shoulder. "Right now, what matters is that we get to live another day. We'll just have to give them their just desserts another time."

Lily sadly nodded in agreement, and seeing Mrs. Johnson had destroyed a wall already, she and the woman jumped through the hole and fell down on the ground next to the now-untied Loud sisters and Clyde, with Girl Jordan and the judgement trio leaving soon after.

Once out, the team took a moment to rest as they looked at the sky, to see the laboratory now resembled some kind of mix-matched building, which was propelled by some kind of apparatus at the bottom, with some rockets attached to the side.

Finally, it resembled a rabbit's head, for some reason.

"Well, that was... certainly something," Luna said, scratching the back of her head. "Can't say it was what I was hoping we'd get, though."

"So, to recap, not only did we find out Lincoln and Lisa are the ones that started this madness, but we also lost Leni, who's decided to join the liar side!" Lynn growled, folding her arms. "Not only that, but they also have something planned for the end of the year, which will definitely put all of Royal Woods in danger!"

"You forgot to mention we got more Umbra Auras to worry about," Lily remarked, leaning against a tree with her arms folded. "The girls with Girl Jordan turned into Umbra Auras after Lisa explained everything."

"I'm assuming they joined Girl Jordan too, because I don't see her or them anywhere here," Luan said as she looked around. "I just hope they don't decide to attack us right after we found out all of this."

Lily lowered her head and frowned, which caught everyone's attention.

"Lily, if you're thinking about the idea that Lincoln and Lisa did this for you, then don't do that," Lori said as she walked to her youngest sister's side and put a hand on her sholder. "They literally admitted that they were only thinking about themselves."

"That doesn't change the fact that they used me as a cover for all that!" Lily snapped, tears appearing at the edge of her eyes as she added, "I trusted Lincoln when he was Gemini! I believed that whatever had happened to them, that they wouldn't be related to what was going on!"

Lily frowned and calmed down. "And now, it turns out they really are behind everything that's happened."

The girl looked away. "What's worse is that they dragged Leni into this, too."

"Yeah, we lost an ally, gained an enemy, not our best day," Luan remarked. "But hey, we should try to stay a little positive: At least we managed to get out of there alive, right?"

Everybody nodded in agreement, and after a little bit more resting, they all went their separate ways and returned home, with Lily taking one more look at the building before she left.

 ** _Meanwhile, with Girl Jordan and the Judgement Trio..._**

The archer, the jackhammer, the one with the stick, and the literal wingwoman were resting at the park, the latter three taking their time to analyze their situation while Girl Jordan took her time to look at the laboratory, which could be seen from afar.

"So, it looks like we're all part of the same problem now, huh?" Mollie remarked, folding her arms. "We began as Lux Auras, and now, we're Umbra Auras. We'll have to go into hiding, won't we?"

"We have no choice," Kat stated, shaking her head. "Almost everybody in our class is a Lux Aura: Trying to go back there in our current state would be suicidal."

"I knew allowing Girl Jordan to come with us was a bad idea," Joy sighed. "We wouldn't be Umbra Auras right now if we had just gone core hunting on our own!"

"Hey, blaming the girl isn't fair for her: It was Lincoln and his scientist sister who caused this entire mess," Mollie stated, throwing a disapproving look at her friend. "Girl Jordan is as much of a victim as we are."

"And besides, there's no reason to believe we wouldn't have encountered Divisu if we hadn't met and grouped with Girl Jordan," Kat added, with Mollie nodding in agreement. "At best, she'd tell us and we wouldn't bring her, thus not having someone who knows how Divisu looked like, and at worst, we would've been completely unprepared for when that thing attacked."

"And you don't have to attack anybody."

The trio turned to look at Girl Jordan, who was the one who said that.

"All you wanted to do was help protect Royal Woods, right? We can still give that a shot," the girl explained, looking at the sky as she added, "And as someone once said to me: Just because you have the power to destroy Royal Woods, doesn't mean you _have_ to."

"And what if we _can't_ do that?" Joy asked. "What if, no matter how hard we try, we can't do anything but help destroy the city, huh?"

"Then I'll find a way to absorb your darkness into myself, so you can go back to being Lux Auras," Girl Jordan answered with no hesitation. "I know it's a baffling idea, but it's the least I can do."

With that said, Girl Jordan stood up and left the trio alone as she headed home, leaving them to exchange looks and think about what she said.

 ** _Finally, with Lincoln, Lisa, and Leni..._**

The trio were at an unknown part of the laboratory, the former two looking at a progress bar connected to a giant egg-shaped machine, holding whatever project they had been working on for months.

"It seems the project is going smoothly," Lisa remarked with slight satisfaction. "I might even get away with saying it could be finished before the end of the year: Probably a month or two before, to be exact."

"You won't, 'cause I'm pretty sure it'll only be finished by the end of the year: Rushing things has never worked out for anybody," Lincoln answered.

"Well, how about we ask our third wheel?" Lisa asked. "What do you think, Leni?"

The teenager walked towards the duo, stopped when she was close enough, and sternly asked:

"Are you two happy now? Our sisters know everything, the project can no longer be stopped, and we can't go back home and, like, face our family ever again!"

Lincoln and Lisa remained silent as they stared at the progress bar, which slowly started to fill up.

"We know we can't go back, and we know that after this is done, we may need to escape from Royal Woods," Lisa stated, looking firmly at the bar. "Or worse, put an end to everything, including our lives..."

"But, hey, at least nobody's redundant now, right?" Lincoln argued, with a shaky feel to his tone. "At least we all have a purpose, now."

"What purpose? To be lied to? Manipulated? Almost getting sick from all the concern we had for you, only to find out that it was for nothing?!" Leni asked, narrowing her eyes as she growled, "Do you really think that's a purpose our siblings are happy with?"

The duo fell silent, allowing Leni to continue:

"What's the Lux Auras and Squires' purpose? To be conscripted into a magical girl mess, just to survive the Shadows? Do you think any of them are happy with that?"

Lincoln lowered his head, almost as if the statement got to him, as Leni added:

"What about the Umbra Auras? What's _their_ purpose? To be put through the wringer repeatedly until they snap and decide to take down everyone with them? Do you think they're happy with that?"

Normally it would be Lisa's turn to lower her head and look shaken by the statement. However, she kept her head high, seemingly ignoring the teenager's words.

This didn't stop Leni from babbling on:

"And what about _our_ purpose? Is it to be liars, manipulators, and just all-around awful people just to feel like we mean something? To feel like we're not just redundant wasted space? Is that something you're happy with?"

This time, the statement struck, and Lisa lowered her head, allowing Leni to finish off the duo with:

"Because let me be very, like, blunt with you: I'm not happy with this. And from the looks of it, neither are you. At first, I thought this would be fun, but this has gone too far."

Leni turned around and walked away, angrily muttering:

"So far, in fact, I wouldn't be too surprised if everything bites you in the butt in the end."


	13. Episode VII: Aftermath

**So it's been quite a while since the last episode of L-UMA came out, and since then, I've managed to get at least one episode complete and another one half-complete. I know this may not sound like much, but I work at my own pace.**

 **Anyway, I'll post episode seven this and next Wednesday, to give you guys something to read after such a long wait, and in the meantime, I'll be working on the next episodes as well.**

 **Will I do the same thing on episode 8 and part of 9 are finished? Anything could happen I guess.**

 **Now, let's answer some reviews:**

 **1) Nobody245: Yeah, something must've been lost in translation, even if Gemini and Divisu clearly speak English. The real question is, what was missing?**

 **2) animehero1000: You know what they say: If you can't beat them, let them know you exist so... actually, how does that fix anything? XD**

 *** Betrayals, betrayals everywhere!**

 *** I'm not so sure, they seem more like "Let's stand at the sidelines and watch everything go down" kind of bad guys, rather than "Hey, let's get our butts moving and do things ourselves!"**

 *** Or perhaps, they could simply gain a different kind of powerup.**

 **3) ChernoMan:**

 *** Funnily enough, I took your idea that "incorporating" the verbal tics might not be the best choice and made something out of it. What did I do, I won't say, but let's just say you'll be quite surprised.**

 **And now, to the chapter!**

* * *

A month had passed since the revelation of what happened to Lincoln and Lisa. Only four or so months remained before the big event happened, and what were the Loud sisters doing?

Why, just the exact same thing they've been doing up to this point: Hunting cores of darkness and stopping them from turning into Shadows.

After all, what else could they do? The laboratory was high up in the sky and no matter how hard they tried, the sisters couldn't jump high enough to reach it.

And even if they could arrive, what were they supposed to do about Leni, Lincoln, and Lisa? The former could probably be taken out by luck, but the last two controlled light and darkness itself; And they were very easily beaten back when they had a group bigger than themselves.

So, for now, might as well keep doing what they've been doing up to that point. It was the only thing that wasn't irrevocably changed after learning the truth.

"Okay, that should be all of the cores of darkness in this street," Luna remarked as she put her weapon down. "Who's gonna go see if there are any other cores in the rest of the city?"

"I'll do it," Lynn remarked, cracking her knuckles. "It's about time I did my first search anyway, I've never been picked for it before."

With that said, the jock jumped onto a rooftop, and jumped away, beginning her search as her sisters sat down and took a break, with Lily sitting next to Luna with a concerned look.

"Is something the matter, Lily?" the rocker inquired.

"It's just that... well, remember that form you told me about? Where I had the grey suit and all that stuff?" Lily asked, earning a nod from the rocker before she finished, "I can't access it."

"Wait, what do you mean you can't access it?" Luna frowned. "Are you sure about that, dude? Have you tried activating it since then?"

"Every day in the past month I've tried to reach that transformation, but no matter what I do or what I try, I just can't transform!" Lily whined, stomping the ground. "What's worse is that I don't even know what I did to transform in the first place! I was covered by darkness, and next thing I know, the whole place is collapsing!"

"So not only can you not achieve it, but you don't even remember how you did it?" Luan asked, resting her cheek on her palm. "That's good to know."

"No, it's everything but good to know," Lori replied, folding her arms. "That transformation, state of being, or whatever it was, is literally the only reason we survived the fight against Lincoln, Lisa and..."

The oldest sister paused, frowned, and lowered her head. "Leni."

"Yeah, now that you mention them, they seemed rather... cautious, when they saw it," Lucy remarked, scratching her chin. "Almost as if they knew that if they stayed around a little longer, they wouldn't have survived an encounter with her."

"Guess that only adds another reason for me to figure out how to access that form as soon as possible," Lily sighed. "And another reason to get frustrated that I can't do it yet."

"Well, rushing into things won't get us anywhere," Luna remarked as she patted her sister's back. "Take your time, we still got three months left before whatever Lincoln and Lisa have been working on attacks Royal Woods."

Then, Lily snapped, "And what are we supposed to do if I don't figure out how to access it by then?!"

The sisters turned silent, until Lori shook off the shock and said:

"Let's not think about that now. We should split up and look around the rest of the city; After all, there's only so much ground Lynn can cover on her own."

"Yeah, about that, I'm not going to be able to join you today," Luan said, getting everyone's attention. "I... need to go see someone at the hospital."

"You mean Dana, right?" Lori inquired, earning a nod from the comedian. "Normally, this is the point where I would ask you if it can wait, but considering how she was the first Eclipsa we dealt with, and we haven't heard from her since then, it might be a good idea if one of us keeps an eye on her. So sure, go ahead."

Luan smiled with relief, nodded, and jumped away just as Lily took a step forward and asked, "And what about me? What should I do?"

"Hmm... you have been working harder than usual, and you haven't been injured too bad..." Lori scratched her chin. "So, as long as you literally keep yourself out of danger, you can come along with any of us."

Lily hummed and looked at all the sisters available, until she pointed at Lucy and said with a shrug:

"I'm gonna go with Lucy."

The goth jumped at her name being called, and she pointed at herself, prompting Lily to nod to confirm as she walked to the gothic sister.

"Okay then, everybody else can pick their partners," Lori remarked as she rested her spear behind her head. "I'm gonna go alone."

"Um, not to question your authority or anything, but is that really necessary?" Luna asked, scratching the back of her head. "I mean, we're an even number group, right?"

"Hmm, without Luan or Lynn here, and with Leni no longer on our side, there's only six of us, that's literally an even number," Lori argued in response.

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying," Luna said. "If we're an even number, we should have an even number of groups, right? Like, three groups of two, like that."

"I see... alright then, Luna, you'll be coming with me," Lori stated, getting a surprised look from the rockstar. "The twins can go with themselves, and Lily will go with Lucy. Now, how about we literally start scouting the area?"

The sisters nodded in agreement, and the teams spread apart, beginning their own search for any cores of darkness that remained in the area... just in time for Leni to arrive, alongside Lincoln and Lisa, who were in their Gemini and Divisu forms.

"Looks like they just left," "So, what the heck do, like, want to do?"

"You'll go distract the twins while they're doing their search, and Lincoln here will go after Lori and Luna, in order to see if he can get them to unleash their inner demons," Divisu explained. "Meanwhile, I'll go mess a little with Girl Jordan and her group in order to see if Lily's little light trick a week ago has increased their resistance against my mind control. Understood?"

The pair nodded, and Divisu teleported away, leaving Gemini and Leni alone for the former to lower their head as the latter glared at them.

" _Listen, Leni, I know you're angry at us,_ " Gemini sighed. " _But you have to understand-_ "

"What more is there to understand, Lincoln?" Leni sternly asked. "You two got the idea, I joined you without thinking about it once, you and Lisa, and now we've basically forced ourselves to be the bad guys because whatever the heck you and Lisa have been working on, can no longer be stopped!"

Gemini lowered their head, and looked away as they stuttered, " _I... We'll be on our way._ "

Gemini jumped away, and Leni followed soon after... or would have, had a familiar boy's strings not caught to her leg and pin her to the ground.

The boy was none other than Clyde McBride, in his Lux Squire form, staring down at the teenager sternly.

"Clyde..." Leni slowly stood up and dusted herself, paying no attention to the strings in her leg. "What are you doing?"

"I'm stopping you from messing with everyone again!" the boy sternly stated, tightly gripping his strings. "I don't know what you, Lincoln, and Lisa are planning, but if you think I'm going to just stand still and watch you do as you please, then you're wrong!"

Leni rolled her eyes, then pulled the strings and Clyde towards her, allowing her to grab him by the neck and sternly tell him:

"Don't even bother trying to act like a hero: You're a pawn just like everyone else. The only reason Lincoln turned you into a Lux Squire is because he wanted to be sure that the transmutation process worked on boys just as well as girls."

Leni dropped the boy.

"And now that he knows it does work, it's only a matter of time before he yanks your arbitrary powers away. So do everyone a favor, and stop trying to be a hero."

The teenager tried to walk away, but the boy, realizing his strings were still tied to her leg, pulled them and caused her to trip.

"This again?!"

Leni lifted her legs and spun the strings around, with Clyde trying to gain control back from them as he spun along with them. Then, the strings snapped and Clyde hit the side of a building as Leni stood up and exclaimed:

"I'm, like, trying to be nice here, Clyde! Fighting is completely unnecessary, so stop being a pain, and leave me alone!"

Once the boy hit the ground, he quickly stood back up and summoned his strings, causing Leni to summon hers as she said:

"I guess I'll have to move you by force, then!"

 ** _Meanwhile, with Lucy and Lily..._**

The duo scouted the area wordlessly, with them failing to find any other cores of darkness as Lucy decided to break the ice:

"I know it must suck to be forced to fight at the sidelines, but you have to understand it's for a good reason. You're the only one of us who has been able to achieve that form that made Lincoln and Lisa retreat, and we don't know if the rest of us can do it."

The goth put a hand on her sister, frowned, and finished:

"If we lose you, not only do we lose another sibling, this time for real, but we also lose our only known advantage over Lincoln, Lisa, and Leni."

"I know that, and I understand it too," Lily sighed. "It doesn't mean I have to be okay with it, though. And besides, my weapon is supposed to be used at close range: Not letting me get close to the enemies makes me next to useless!"

"That's not true at all!" Lucy hastily replied, only to flinch as she tried to think of a way to support her argument. "Y-You can throw it at the enemies! And if one of us loses our weapons, you can toss yours at us so we can use it instead!"

Lily summoned her mace, threw a deadpan look at her sister and said, "This thing is much heavier than it looks, Lucy."

The goth tilted her head. "It does?"

Lily handed the mace to Lucy, and as soon as she let go, she watched as the mace hit the ground with a lod *CLANK*, with Lucy's best efforts to lift the weapon barely doing anything.

"W-Wow, this thing really is quite heavy," Lucy remarked as Lily grabbed the mace back, only to then question, "But wait, if it's that heavy, how come you can hold it just fine?"

"I don't know, maybe the fact that it's my own weapon has something to do with it?" Lily shrugged as she looked at her weapon. "I honestly never thought about it."

Then, the aged-up toddler remembered something interesting, and asked, "Say, what did you see "Gemini" do that he made you keep quiet about?"

The goth took a step back. "W-What are you talking about?"

"Come on, Lucy, we've already found out the creature that gave us our powers was Lincoln himself: Discovering one of us kept a secret about Gemini, besides Leni, is nothing compared to that!" Lily replied, throwing an exasperated look at the goth. "And besides, you look like you're anxious, like you're hiding something."

Lucy lowered her head and rubbed her arm.

"Lucy, if there's something on your mind, you have to speak with someone before it starts clouding your judgement-"

"I told Leni about it a long time ago, and see how that turned out!" Lucy snapped, kicking the ground. "How am I supposed to know that telling you is going to turn out better!?"

Lily narrowed her eyes and lowered her head. "Leni was already in cahoots with Lincoln and Lisa when you told her about it."

The aged-up toddler looked at her sister disapprovingly. "Do you think I'm in the same boat as them?"

Shocked by the question, Lucy took a couple steps back and looked everywhere as she tried to think of an answer, with the aged-up toddler's glare not helping her calm down in the slightest.

Suddenly, the goth jumped away, with Lily giving chase as she exclaimed:

"Lucy, come back!"

 ** _Then, with Lori and Luna..._**

The oldest Loud sister stopped on her tracks just as Luna prepared to jump, with her looking back at the way they came from as Luna noticed and couldn't help but ask:

"Is something the matter, dude?"

"I can sense Leni's somewhere nearby," Lori remarked. "Luna, can you continue the scouting on your own?"

"Uh, sure, I can," the rocker raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "But what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to have a talk with her."

Lori left soon after that, and Luna decided to continue the scouting by herself... for about two seconds before a familiar sight caught her attention:

Becky, sitting on a bench with a depressed look on her face.

Seeing her, Luna jumped down and landed right next to the redhead, saying:

"Becky?!"

"Luna?!" the redhead weakly asked as she stood up.

"I haven't seen you since you took Dana to the hospital," Luna remarked, growing concerned as she took a closer look at the girl. "Where have you been?"

"At the hospital, looking over Dana's progress every single day," Becky answered sadly. "And when I was booted out of there, I simply went back home to rest and come back the next day."

"Have you been taking care of yourself properly?" Luna asked, oblivious to Becky's rising anger as she added, "Have you been eating and sleeping well-"

"How am I supposed to eat and sleep well when my best friend is in a coma?!" the redhead snapped, grabbing Luna by her neck. "She's in that condition because of me, and because of those stupid rodents, and you think I should be eating and sleeping well regardless!?"

"Wait, Dana hasn't woken up from her coma yet?!" Luna repeated, her eyes growing wide. "How... is that possible?"

 ** _Meanwhile, at the hospital..._**

Luan stood next to the comatose Dana in bed, where her doctor gave her the answer Luna was looking for:

"It appears that whatever substance or matter that corrupted her before, has been keeping her in a state of an extended coma, and in addition, her body has been frozen in time, meaning she won't die of hunger or thirst, nor will her limbs atrophy."

Luan looked at Dana as the doctor continued:

"We have theorized that it has something to do with her admittedly terrible stamina. Because her stamina is low for a girl her age, the darkness has been with very little resistance, and because it's so low, she doesn't possess enough strength to wake up on her own."

The doctor shook their head. "It's a baffling theory, but it's the only theory we got going so far."

"I see..." Luna frowned. "Do you have any idea how long it'll be before she wakes up?"

"We have no idea," the doctor sadly answered, shaking their head. "The coma doesn't show any signs of slowing down anytime soon, although considering this was brought by the darkness..."

Upon hearing the doctor's hesitation, Luan leaned forward and asked, "Is there a way to wake her up?!"

"Well, alongside the theory I just told you, we've also theorized that if somebody were to enter her mind, and get rid of the darkness keeping her comatose, then she could wake up..." the doctor sighed. "But we currently don't know anybody, Lux Aura or otherwise, who can do that."

"I'll look for one!"

The doctor flinched and lifted their head, seeing Luan clenching her fist with determination as she added:

"There are several Lux Auras in Royal Woods right now: One of them has to have the ability to enter dreams, and I'm going to find them no matter what!"

With that said, the girl ran out of the hospital, with the doctor scratching their chin as they thought about the idea, and said:

"That might work, actually..."

 ** _Then, with Girl Jordan's Group..._**

Girl Jordan, Kat, Mollie, and Joy stumbled upon a group of cores of darkness on a street, which, in their eyes, glew a bit more brightly than when they were Lux Auras.

"Huh, weird, I think I'm seeing a higher aura in some of these cores than the others," Mollie remarked, scratching her head. "Why do you think that's the case?"

"Who knows, maybe because we're Umbra Auras, and thus beings who are supposed to help the cores turn into Shadows, we can see which ones are closer to maturing into Shadows," Kat guessed, scratching her chin as she saw cores with varying auras all over the place. "It would certainly help if we knew which aura represent which state, though."

"It would, but we have no time to figure that out," Girl Jordan said as she reached for an explosive arrow and aimed it at one of the cores. "We need to get to work and-"

"Not so fast!"

The team separated moments before Lynn came out of nowhere and slammed her fist to the ground, throwing a furious glare at Girl Jordan before she tore off a piece of rubble from the street, and threw it at her, sending her flying off into a building.

And once she hit the wall, Lynn promptly lunged straight for her, ready to throw another punch with her gauntlet. However, Girl Jordan threw the rubble away and dodged just before the punch connected, with the ensuing explosion sending the archer flying away again.

"Girl Jordan, are you okay?!" Mollie exclaimed as she and the judgement trio ran up to the girl.

"I was thrown into a building with a piece of rubble and was then sent flying twice, what do you think?!" the Umbra Aura snapped as she stood up and dusted herself. "However, my health isn't the main concern right now: You guys try to destroy as many of the cores as possible, I'll keep that girl occupied!"

"Are you sure you'll be able to deal with her on your own, though?" Kat asked.

Girl Jordan got ready to shoot an arrow at Lynn's direction. "Less worrying about me, more dealing with the cores of darkness!"

With that said, the trio nodded, and went to deal with said cores while Girl Jordan shot some arrows at Lynn, with the jock punching each and everyone one of them, and causing each of them to activate their effects:

The first covered her in a smoke cloud.

The second caused the cloud to explode and send her back.

And the third one caused one of her gauntlets to gain wings and begin flapping rapidly, taking her up in the air.

Just as Girl Jordan lowered her bow with a sigh of relief, though, Lynn put her hand on her gauntlet and exclaimed:

"Gauntlet Buster!"

The winged gauntlet was shot off her hand, and as the jock plummeted to the ground, she clenched her fist, ready to punch Girl Jordan with her remaining gauntlet.

However, the archer moved aside moments before the strike, aimed an arrow at the ground, and shot it just as Lynn launched her punch, engulfing the duo in another explosion that sent them flying over to some trees.

Lynn recovered quicker than Girl Jordan, though, and punched the ground hard enough to send rubble towards the archer, who barely got back up before she was struck by it, losing her balance.

Then, just as she aimed another arrow at the jock, the winged gauntlet lost its wings and flew down, hitting her bow hard enough to send it flying.

"My bow!"

But before Girl Jordan could call it back, the same gauntlet flew back at Girl Jordan and punched her side hard enough for there to be an audible crunch, before punching her hard enough to send her flying back to Lynn, who grabbed her by the neck and threw her at the building, before grabbing her flying gauntlet again.

"Tell me what are you and your croonies doing here, Girl Jordan!" Lynn snapped, pounding her knuckles. "You've been a thorn on my sisters' side long before you turned out to be an enemy all along!"

"We're doing the same thing as you, idiot!" Girl Jordan growled, dusting herself as she grabbed her side with one of her arms. "We're here to get rid of as many cores of darkness as possible!"

Lynn's eyes widened at the statement, before she narrowed her eyes and pounded her knuckles. "And why should I believe you?! This could very well just be a lie to get me to lower my guard!"

Girl Jordan rubbed her temples as she reached for her back. "Of course, why would I expect you to think before you did anything?!"

Lynn growled and ran after the archer, just as the girl took out an arrow from her back and threw it at the Crimson Lux Aura, with Lynn's instinct causing her to punch it, engulfing her in a smoke cloud.

She then punched the cloud away... and noticed that not only was Girl Jordan nowhere to be seen, but the judgement trio and the cores of darkness in the area had vanished as well, causing the jock to snap:

"Where did she go!?"

So, the jock jumped away... and after a few seconds, landed right where Luna and Becky were, getting Luna's attention.

"Lynn? What are you doing here?" Luna asked, raising an eyebrow. "Did you finish scouting the area?"

"That doesn't matter, someone has to get Lily out of here as fast as they can!" Lynn stated, clenching her fists. "Not only that, we need to gather the rest of the sisters: Girl Jordan and her group are in the area!"

Luna and Becky's eyes widened, though the latter remained silent as the former asked, "What are they doing?!"

"Probably try to create more Shadows," Lynn guessed, scratching the back of her head. "She told me they were trying to destroy the cores, but of course they were lying."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "How can you tell?"

Lynn flinched and twiddled her fingers as she tried to think of an answer, while Becky slowly stood up and took a couple of steps forward.

"Becky?" Luna asked, noticing the redhead. "I-Is something wrong?"

The redhead gritted her teeth, took out her white cube, and transformed into her Lux Aura form, unsheating her sword before she jumped away, with Luna extending her hand forward as she exclaimed:

"Becky, wait!"

"Yeah, extend your hand forward and call her name, and do nothing else," Lynn quipped, folding her arms. "I'm pretty sure that's going to work out for you."

"Shut up and help me follow her!" the rocker snapped at the jock.

 ** _Meanwhile, back with Girl Jordan's group..._**

Mollie, Joy, and Kat rested on another side of the street, the latter sitting on a bench and the former two pacing back and forth, when Girl Jordan arrived at the scene, walking with a slight wobble.

"Girl Jordan! You're alright!" Mollie exclaimed as she and Joy ran up to the girl.

"Geez, that Lux Aura hit you hard, didn't she?" Joy asked as she pulled one of Jordan's arm over her shoulder.

"Nah, not really: Most of the dirt is thanks to the smoke clouds from her punching my arrows, and the bruises are due to me being thrown all over the place," Girl Jordan answered, groaning as the girls put her on the bench next to Kat. "But her gauntlets did hit me in the side, and it hurts like hell."

"It hit you quite badly too, dang," Kat remarked, looking at the bruise before she turned to Joy and Mollie. "Do any of you have healing abilities? 'Cause I don't."

"I don't have anything like that either," Mollie shrugged and shook her head. "In fact, I don't think there's any Lux Auras with a healing ability."

"Yeah, but, can't Girl Jordan just create a healing arrow or something?" Joy pointed out, scratching her cheek. "She's made from smoke bombs, to paralysis, to arrows that give wings, and some more crazy stuff like that, surely a healing arrow should be no problem, right?"

"I need an object that can do the healing in order to create the arrow," Girl Jordan answered as she took heavy breaths. "And not only did I not bring one of those with me today..."

Suddenly, a familiar shadow loomed over the quartet.

"But I don't have enough time to make one."

The girls looked up and saw Becky standing on top of the building in front of them, sporting yellow eyes as the sun shined behind her.

"Is she one of your friends, Girl Jordan?" Joy asked, tightening her grip on her staff.

Girl Jordan took a deep breath. "She asked my help for something once, yeah..."

Becky got ready to jump.

"But she's not a friend."

The redhead jumped, ready to slice Girl Jordan to bits...


	14. Episode VII: Denial

**And here we have the second part of episode seven, the luckiest episode of them all... right?**

 **Or is thirteen the lucky number? I'm afraid episode twelve will be the final one, so I guess we'll never know. XD**

 **I'll take a little breather this week to work on the next few episode: I already have a cool idea for a confrontation in episode... I almost said too much.**

 **Now, let's reply to some reviews:**

 **1) animehero1000:**

 *** Well, somebody has to get rid of the cores of darkness.**

 *** Guilty and suspicious. Then again, Lucy has a way with those words, doesn't she?**

 *** Uh huh, I think we already established things aren't as simple as that.**

 *** The only ones who find out about Lincoln and Lisa's real identities were the sisters, Girl Jordan, the judgement trio, Clyde, and Mrs. Johnson. To everybody else, they could still appear as mascots and nobody would bat an eye. Plus, their mascot forms are the only ones that can create Lux and Umbra auras manually, their true forms can't do that.**

 **2) Nobody245:**

 *** To be fair, they have an easy way of telling them apart: Past Lincoln and Lisa are the siblings they grew up with, Present Lincoln and Lisa are the furry plushies who're behind everything.**

 *** Well, think about it: If Clyde really is still Lincoln's best friend, then he'll react quite strongly to something bad happening to him. And after he was convinced to leave the family behind for some weird experiment, if Clyde being in danger won't change his mind, I don't think anything will.**

 *** You mean Lux Auras, right?**

 **3) ChernoMan:**

 *** It's an impression that won't leave your mind anytime soon, so that's good with me.**

 *** I now fear that the end is going to be nothing but a letdown for you. Should I be worried?**

 **And now, to the chapter.**

* * *

Just as Becky's sword got close to Girl Jordan and she swung it, Kat leaped forward, swung her hammer and clashed with the girl, with her hammer overpowering her fast enough to send her back a couple of feet, though she recovered fairly quickly.

"Mollie, take Girl Jordan to a hospital or a first aid kit, or whatever you can find that can heal wounds!" Kat barked at the winged Umbra Aura. "Joy and I will keep this crazy girl occupied!"

"Wait, me too!?" Joy exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yes, you too!" Kat snapped as she and Becky clashed weapons. "You don't expect me to be able to deal with a Lux Aura all by myself, do you!?"

This time, Becky overpowered Kat and sent her flying off into a wall, with Joy quickly stepping in with her staff to keep the teenager occupied while Mollie grabbed Girl Jordan and flew away to the nearest hospital.

At the sky, Mollie took a moment to look at Joy and Kat as they fought the redheaded swordswoman to a stand still, though just barely. She then regained her composure and continued the fly, with Girl Jordan continuing to look at them for her.

 _ **Meanwhile, back with Lily and Lucy...**_

The latter stopped for a second to catch her breath... While the former stood nearby, looking at her older sister with concern as she said:

"Lucy, you're not the most athletic of our sisters; Running away will only take you so far."

"I know... I know..." Lucy answered as she dusted herself. "But I'm sorry, I don't think I can give you an answer to your question right now."

"And you shouldn't stay for too long!"

The duo turned around and saw Lynn landing nearby, dusting herself as she explained:

"I spotted Girl Jordan and her group in a street filled with cores of darkness! We need to get Lily out of here-"

"Wait, Girl Jordan is here?" Lily asked, earning an exasperated look and nod from the jock Lux Aura. "Well, what is she doing?"

"I don't know, I stopped her and her gang before they did anything," Lynn waved her hand in a dismissive manner. "But that doesn't matter: As Umbra Auras, they're likely going to target you because of the power you hold inside you!"

"You mean that silver form she showed at the laboratory?" Lucy asked.

"Yes! They're probably going to try get rid of her so she doesn't achieve it again!" Lynn stated, before she turned to the aged-up toddler. "Lily, please, if you value your life, and I'm sure you do, you have to get out of here before they hurt you!"

However, the Lavender Lux Aura stood her ground, folded her arms and asked:

"And why should I believe you?"

Naturally, Lynn quickly grew angry. "Why are you asking me that-!?"

"Probably? Likely? And the fact you said you stopped them before they did anything," Lily shook her head and narrowed her eyes. "It sounds like you're assuming that Girl Jordan and her friends are evil, rather than look deeper for proof."

"Who needs proof?! They're Umbra Auras, we're Lux Auras! They help Shadows come to life, and we destroy them before they're even made!" Lynn snapped, stomping the ground. "It's as simple as that! There's nothing more to it!"

"We thought Gemini was a weird furry creature who gave us powers, and he turned out to be our brother," Lily replied sternly. "We thought Lincoln and Lisa went missing, and it turned out they had taken new forms, thanks to Leni."

Lynn gritted her teeth. Lily-"

"We thought there was no origin for Lux Auras, and Shadows, and it turned out Lincoln and Lisa created them!" the aged-up toddler snapped. "We can't take things at face value anymore, Lynn! There has to be something more to the fact Girl Jordan is there!"

Suddenly, Lynn grabbed Lily by the neck of her bodysuit, pulled her forward and hissed:

"Listen up, Lily, I'm not in the mood to be scolded by my youngest sister, who insists that the bad guys have some good in them! Now, stop defending that brat and get out of here!"

Lily slapped Lynn and exclaimed:

"If I'm going anywhere, it'll be with Girl Jordan, so I can rub how wrong you are in your face!"

And with that said, Lily jumped away, leaving Lynn to stomp the ground in frustration.

"What's wrong with that girl?!" the jock growled, clenching her fists. "After everything that's happened, how can she even humor the idea that Girl Jordan could be good!?"

"W-Well, she might look between us in age, but she still has the mind of a baby," Lucy remarked, getting her sister's attention. "Maybe she's just being stubborn about her belief that Girl Jordan is good?"

"The problem's not that she's stubborn, it's that her belief is just unbelievable!" Lynn folded her arms. "I can believe we have superpowers, that Lincoln and Lisa turned into evil plush toys, heck, I can even believe that we're fighting evil manifestations of darkness in skirts, but Lily still thinking Girl Jordan could be good?! It just can't be real!"

And then, she got an idea. "Maybe... Maybe it's not real?"

"Lynn?" Lucy blurted, growing concerned.

"That's it, Lucy! How didn't I see it before?! Lily's belief in Girl Jordan isn't real!" Lynn stated, putting her hands on her hips as she added, "Jordan must have shot her with a mind control arrow in order to make her think she's secretly good! Now it makes sense!"

"It... Does?" Lucy frowned.

"All I need to do is knock the mind control out of Lily with a pair of punches, and she'll turn back to normal!" Lynn frowned. "Of course, since none of our sisters would ever lay a finger on Lily, I guess it's up to me to break her out of her trance."

"Or maybe she knows more about Girl Jordan than we do?" Lucy suggested. "She probably saw her while she was doing something good, and thought that meant she could be good?"

"However, if I attack her now, with Girl Jordan in the area, she could appear out of nowhere and mind control her again," Lynn folded her arms. "I also need to prepare myself mentally to accept the fact I'm about to give a beating to my baby sister."

Lucy lowered her eyelids. "You're not listening to me, are you?"

As if to answer her question, Lynn jumped back home, leaving Lucy to groan and wonder:

"This mess just keeps getting worse and worse..."

 ** _Clyde Versus Leni..._**

The boy tried to stay as far away from Leni as possible, using his strings to grab and throw whatever objects he could at her: Lampposts, vending machines, and so on. However, Leni quickly caught and sliced them apart with her own strings.

Shortly after, she used those same strings to merge the pieces back together, but not into their original forms: Instead, they were merged into toy soldiers similar to nutcrackers, who began moving on their own once Leni latched her strings on their bodies.

"Wait, since when can your strings bring inanimate objects to life?!" Clyde exclaimed.

"Since when can there be mutiple Lux Beings with the same kind of weapon?!" Leni snapped in return. "Some questions just can't be answered no matter how hard you look for them, kid!"

The teenager snapped her fingers and pointed at Clyde as the soldiers ran after him, only for a spear to hit the ground and trap the soldiers in a barrier, before the barrier unleashed a strong load of lighting on its inside, frying the soldiers as the one who threw the spear arrived.

It was Lori, who held a stern expression as she held her hand forward and called the spear back to her.

"Lori!" Clyde remarked with relief.

"I'm glad I could make it in time," Lori said as she brushed the boy's hair. "You can go take a rest, Clyde."

The barrier vanished, revealing Leni looking sternly at Lori from the other side as the oldest sister remarked:

"I'll take it from here."

"So, you decided to shove your nose where it's not called, huh, Lori?" Leni growled, clenching her fists. "Where was this attitude, like, back when Lincoln and Lisa were missing?"

"That's besides the point now!" Lori stated, swinging her spear to her side. "I'm going to do what it takes to take you down right here, right now!"

"Really ? Is that totes the reason you're here?" Leni raised an eyebrow and folded her arms. "Because I feel like the only reason you're here right now, is because Clyde over there was in danger."

Lori's eyes widened as she took a step back.

"Oh, how I, like, wonder; Would you even be here if Clyde wasn't the one dumb enough to challenge me?" Leni smirked and shook her head. "Would you have come here to beat me, even if Clyde wasn't involved at all?"

Suddenly, a rock was thrown at the girl, who was barely fazed as it hit her in the back of her head.

"Maybe she wouldn't."

Leni slowly turned around to face the one who said that, sporting yellow glowing eyes as she saw none other than Mrs. Johnson standing nearby, cracking her knuckles as she added:

"But I would."

"Mrs. Johnson!" Lori and Clyde exclaimed in uníson.

"Mrs. Loud, take Mr. McBride out of this place," Mrs. Johnson ordered, focusing solely on Leni. "I know you said you'd be the one to take care of your sister, but please, let me be the one to take care of her!"

"I literally got no problem with that!" Lori chirped as she grabbed and lifted Clyde. "Come on, let's get outta here!"

The duo jumped away, with Leni looking at them leave with a stern look before she asked:

"Another one shoves her nose in someone else's business, huh?"

Then she turned back to Mrs. Johnson, who got her arms and legs tied up as soon as Leni summoned her strings.

However, the woman only had to put the barest mínimum of effort to break free from the strings' hold, shocking Leni as she saw her strings dissipate into light.

"I can't believe it, you're the first Lux Aura who's been capable of breaking free from my strings..."

Naturally, this angered the teenager.

"How did you get this much power?!"

"Power, or experience?" Mrs. Johnson replied as she rubbed one of her wrists. "I'm a Lux Aura made from an adult woman who's just a few years away from leaving prime physical form. Don't you think that makes me stronger than the average Lux Aura?"

"Lincoln, you stupid idiot, you were, like, supposed to record if she was different than other Lux Auras!" Leni muttered through her teeth, before calming down. "But oh well. Desperate, like, times-"

A sphere of turquoise energy, with the word "like" inside it, appeared on Leni's left palm.

"Require totes desperate measures!"

Another similar sphere appeared on her right palm, but with the word "totes" in them. At this point, Mrs. Johnson looked shocked as Leni explained:

"I know this may sound utterly idiotic, but hear me out: An Aura, whether Lux or Umbra, have their power limited by certain limiters depending on the person. In my case, it's my verbal tics of " like" and "totes," and by getting rid of them..."

Leni dropped the orbs, not only causing them to drop like rocks, but leave small craters once they hit the ground.

"My powers increase exponentially!"

Leni's eyes glew as she was surrounded by a turquoise aura, from which her Inner Demon Arachne emerged, just as she pulled a pose and Mrs. Johnson asked;

"You realize that I could tell the Louds about this once this fight is over, right?"

"How cute, do you really think you're going to come out of this fight unscathed, now that I'm at my full power?" Leni responded, raising an eyebrow. "I also got my inner demon out, so there's no way I'm at a disadvantage here!"

Mrs. Johnson didn't even bother to give the girl an answer; Instead, she took a battle stance, and did the "come at me" gesture, earning a little smile from Leni.

 ** _Royal Woods Hospital..._**

Girl Jordan and Mollie landed outside the hospital, where the former rested on the ground while the latter spoke with the woman on the counter, who was reading a magazine.

"Hello, Miss?!" Mollie said. "I came here with an injured-"

"Let me guess, one of your Lux Aura friends got hurt during a mission and you want us to heal her?" the woman replied, focusing solely on her magazine. "Well, I'm sorry to tell this to you, but I'm afraid we're a hospital for normal people, not superheroes-"

"But-"

"Superheroes protect the people, they don't need to be protected. In fact, you can probably heal your friend on your own and you just haven't tried," the woman answered. "So go out and deal with that yourself, let the normal people get the treatment superheroes don't need."

Exasperated with the woman's words, Mollie stomped out of the hospital, finding Lily with Girl Jordan outside.

"H-Hey, leave her alone!" Mollie exclaimed, getting between the pair.

"Calm down, Mollie, she's a friend," Girl Jordan said.

"What were you guys really doing with those cores?" Lily inquired. "My sister told me you were trying to make them grow into Shadows, but she didn't give me any proof or evidence about it."

"We were trying to resume the job we had as Lux Auras, that is to destroy the cores of darkness," Mollie explained. "But then a red Lux Aura appeared out of nowhere and fought Girl Jordan while we destroyed the cores."

"So, you were trying to help the Lux Aura cause?" Lily asked, gaining a little smile.

"Well, you said it yourself," Girl Jordan returned the smile. "Just because we were created to be evil, doesn't mean we have to."

Lily and Girl Jordan exchanged smiles, seeing the latter finally exercise what the former told her long ago.

And then Mollie exclaimed, "Anyway, do you have any healing items she could use to create a healing arrow?!"

Lily reached for her back, and took out a bandage.

"A bandage?" Mollie asked in disbelief. "She has a couple of broken bones at least, and you think a bandage is going to help her with that?"

"It's okay, Mollie, it's okay," Girl Jordan remarked. "I need the bandage in order to create an arrow, remember?"

"Oh, right," Mollie raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure a single bandage is going to be enough, though?"

Girl Jordan took the bandage, closed both of her hands on it, and yellow energy glew from within before the girl revealed the healing arrow, which was green.

"Does that answer your question?" Girl Jordan handed the arrow and her bow to Mollie. "Now please, help Lily shoot me with it."

Lily blinked twice. "I'm sorry, what?"

"My arrows only work when they've been shot or otherwise thrown, they don't work otherwise," Girl Jordan explained as Mollie handed the equipment to Lily. "And besides, I can't exactly shoot myself from this position, can I?"

Lily frowned. "B-But..."

"Look, don't see this as you attacking Girl Jordan, see this as you in the process of healing her," Mollie said as she went back Lily and helped her adjust the bow and arrow. "Now come on, the faster we can get her back into the battle, the better.

With that said, Lily turned back to Girl Jordan, who weakly nodded with a smile. Then, the Lavender Lux Aura took a deep breath and aimed the arrow...

 ** _Leni Versus Mrs. Johnson Aftermath..._**

An unexpected turn of events had transpired: The redheaded teacher, looking barely bruised, dusted herself as Leni, sporting a black eye and several bruised spots on her person, stood up, her strings flowing across her body as she growled:

"How?"

Mrs. Johnson turned to Leni and raised an eyebrow.

"How can you be this strong, when you don't even have a weapon!?" Leni snapped as her strings wrapped themselves around her body. "I have a weapon, I have an inner demon, I probably have some other stupid ace up my sleeve, and yet I lost to you!?"

"Do you really think using all of your power at once would make me drop dead?" Mrs. Johnson asked, folding her arms. "All you did was make it easier for you to get tired."

Leni gritted her teeth as her strings tightened, then dissipated, revealing her body had fully healed.

"So your strings can even heal you, huh?" Mrs. Johnson cracked her knuckles. "I wonder if they can do it multiple times-"

Suddenly, purple winds blew as a familiar figure materialized next to Leni: Divisu, who looked straight at Mrs. Johnson as she said:

" _That's enough for the experiment."_

"Experiment?" Mrs. Johnson raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

" _Lincoln and I decided to create Lux and Umbra beings out of teenagers and children. Mostly children, and their performance wasn't as great as we've expected,,_ " Divisu explained. " _Now, adult Lux and Umbra beings were ideas that didn't occur to us until later, so we decided to have Leni here test your power_."

The creature tilted their head. " _And our hypothesis was confirmed: An adult Lux Aura is stronger than a teenage one, which are themselves stronger than children ones. And if this is true for a Lux Aura._.."

Divisu's frown slowly contorted into a smile. " _Who says the same won't be true for an Umbra Aura?_ "

With that said, a dark purple hurricane materialized in the spot, teleportinf Leni and Divisu away. With them gone, and with new information at her disposal, Mrs. Johnson searched for the Louds.

"I must tell this to them as fast as I can!"

 ** _Kat and Joy Versus Becky..._**

Joy extended her staff towards Becky, who simply sliced it apart as she ran straight for the girl. Once she was getting close, however, Kat jumped in and swung her hammer right at her face, though this only stopped Becky for a moment before she sliced it in two and sent the pair off to a wall with a kick.

"Well, there goes our weapons," Joy remarked as she slid down. "And there's no sign of Mollie or Girl Jordan coming here."

Becky's shadow loomed over the duo.

"Before I get rid of your cubes, tell me: What did you do with the cores of darkness?"

"We destroyed them," Kat sternly answered. "We worked together, and eliminated every single trace of them."

"Don't lie to me!" Becky yelled. "You exist to empower the cores of darkness! Why would you even have the ability to destroy them?! Surely you did something else with them!"

"We did exactly like we told you: We destroyed them, no ifs or buts," Kat retorted. "It's your problem if you decide to act like we're lying!"

So, with that statement made clear, Becky raised her sword and got ready to strike down the duo: After all, even if they were the bad guys, surely Girl Jordan would come to her lackeys aid if they were about to die, right?

Surely enough, Becky was proven right when an arrow was shot at her, which she narrowly dodged before it exploded.

Shortly after that, the trio of Lily, Mollie, and Girl Jordan appeared, with the latter getting the attention of the redhead.

"So, you finally came back," Becky growled, tightening her grip. "And you came with another lackey..."

Then, she realized something. "Wait a minute, you're Luna's sister, aren't you? I remember you from the dance at the square..."

Becky narrowed her eyes. "Are you with them?"

"Well, we're friends, if that's what you're talking about," Lily shrugged. "But, we're not really one the same side of this crazy conflict: I'm a Lux Aura."

"That's impossible: How could a Lux Aura be friends with an Umbra Aura? The slayer of the shadows be friends with the empowerer of the shadows?" Becky questioned out loud. "That's like a mouse becoming friends with a cat; They're supposed to be enemies!"

"And what if we don't want to be enemies?" Lily inquired. "What if, just for a moment, we want to be friendly with each other, instead of trying to kill one another?"

Becky's eyes widened for a moment, almost as if she was considering the girl's words... but then she narrowed them and gripped her sword.

"Then you're in the process of turning into an Umbra Aura, and I'm going to make sure the transformation is never completed!"

The redhead lunged straight towards the girls, but just as she swung her sword, Luna got in the middle of the way and clashed her axe with Becky's sword, causing the duo to back away after the clash.

"Luna?!" Becky exclaimed. "What the heck are you doing here?!"

"You're this close to hurting, or lord forbid kill my sister, and you wonder what I'm doing here?!" Luna replied.

"Luna, your sister isn't well: She's being friendly with an Umbra Aura, that must mean she's in the process of turning into one!" Becky replied, getting ready to attack once again. "We need to do something about it before the bad guys get another ally!"

"Look, I agree that it's weird that Lily's being so friendly with an Umbra Aura, and yeah, maybe I can humor the idea that she might be turning into one," Luna replied, tightening her grip on her axe. "But she's still my sister, and I'm not going to let you lay a finger on her."

Lily and Girl Jordan smiled as Luna added:

"In fact, why don't you bug off and let me deal with my sister on my own?"

" _Well said, Luna Loud._ "

Everybody turned around and saw Gemini suddenly standing on top of a piece of rubble. Now where did the rubble come from, nobody knew.

" _Well said._ "

"Gemini!" Luna growled. "What the heck are you doing here?!"

" _Calm down, Luna, we're not here for you, or Girl Jordan, or the other Lux or Umbra Auras in this area right now,_ " the creature answered before they slowly turned to face Becky. " _We're here for the one called Becky._ "

The redhead gripped her sword. "W-What do you want with me?!"

" _We're here to test to see if your inclusion as a Lux Aura was the right thing to do, or if it was a mistake._ " Gemini spoke. " _And after watching your recent actions, we're leaning more to you Being a failure._ "

"Wait a minute, so you saw her beating up these girls," Luna narrowed her eyes. "And you did nothing to help!?"

Gemini jumped off the rubble. " _The Umbra Auras are beyond our jurisdiction. And besides, you came in, and talked things with her until she calmed down. With that in mind, our intervention would've been meaningless_."

Luna gritted her teeth.

" _Regardless, we inevitably would've come out anyway, especially since there's a question we need to ask,_ " Gemini replied, before they turned to the redhead. " _A question for this Becky._ "

"Well you better be careful with your question, you little rodent!" Becky hissed, getting ready to slice the beast apart. "I'm not in a good mood, and I'm not afraid to get rid of you if possible!"

" _Hmph, but you're afraid to recognize your friend's coma is your fault?_ "

Becky flinched and took a step back, just as the creature explained:

" _On the day the one named Dana turned into an Eclipsa, Becky over here talked with Girl Jordan, and what she said convinced her to have a bit of a conversation with the insecure girl._ "

The archer lowered her head with shame.

" _Girl Jordan went on to tear Dana a new one when she scolded her for believing being a Lux Aura was fun, even though it was a difficult and time-consuming task if not managed properly._ "

Gemini slowly walked towards Becky, who started to back away.

" _After all, a Lux Aura protects Royal Woods, has a cheerful disposition, and is strictly on the side of good, with no blood on their hands. And yet, with this in mind, the illusion only lasts so long until the Lux Aura begins to crack under pressure, and do things they weren't supposed to do._ "

Eventually, Becky hit a wall, and tried to back away even more as the creature finished:

" _Something you nearly did, and would've done regardless, as long as it meant getting your friend back and destroying every evidence that you were responsible for it._ "

Tired of hearing the creature talk, Becky raised her sword and swung it down, slicing Gemini in half and causing some red liquid to come out of him, which splashed the girl as the creature's halves backed away, then merged back into them.

With that done, Becky looked at her bloodied hands, then turned back to the creature.

"You... you little rat, you're not going to trick me like you tricked her!" Becky snapped, pointing at Girl Jordan. "She was the one who cracked Dana's confidence by snapping at her!"

" _But it was your own careless revelation of her insecurities that enraged Girl Jordan in the first place,_ " Gemini bluntly answered. " _And now, you're trying to get rid of her in order to get rid of the evidence that you were in the wrong._ "

Becky gritted her teeth. "No! I'm trying to get rid of her so I can get Dana to wake up!"

" _And what insane, inhuman sense of logic brought you to that conclusion?_ " the creature asked. " _How is killing someone going to bring back your friend? How is Girl Jordan's life expiring right now going to make Dana wake up from her coma?_ "

"Stop trying to break my mind! What do I have to do in order to shut you up!?" Becky yelled, only to realize something. "It's the white cube, isn't it?"

Gemini tilted his head as Becky took off the white cube.

"You're not going to leave me alone until this dang thing has been destroyed, will you? As long as I'm a Lux Aura, you're going to keep pestering me about it!?"

"B-Becky," Luna said, her eyes widening with concern. "W-What are you planning to do?"

"The thing I should've done as soon as I lost Dana," the redhead answered as she threw the cube up high. "I'm quitting this Lux Aura business, and making sure this rat doesn't bother me anymore!"

The redhead gripped her sword, and swung it at the right time to slice the cube in half, turning her back into her normal form as Gemini watched without a reaction whatsoever, saying:

" _Congratulations, Becky, you have given us a reason to explain the purpose of the White Cube._ "

Becky's vision started getting blurry as the creature explained:

" _The white cube used to transform into a Lux Aura also works as a limiter for both the pain and extreme tension all across your body during your adventures as a Lux Aura. Essentially, it works as the container of all the exhaustion and pain your body goes through in your mission._ "

The redhead began losing her balance as her eyes slowly lost their shine...

" _If destroyed, all the pain and exhaustion you've accumulated in your career will immediately return to your body all at once, potentially causing you excruciating pain. Or, as it seems to be the case right now..._ "

The redhead fell to her knees and dropped the sword, which dissipated into light.

" _You'll fall unconscious._ "

The girl promptly did that, falling face-first on the ground as, what a coincidence, Luan arrived to witness the scene.

"What happened here?!" the comedian asked.

"It's a long story, Luan," Luna said. "Just, please grab Becky and take her to the same hospital Dana's at!"

Seeing Luna's intention, luan smiled and nodded before she obliged: She grabbed the redhead's unconscious body, carried it in a bridal style, and jumped away, leaving Gemini to casually remark:

" _Oh well, looks like Becky wasn't fit for the job after all._ "

"Is that seriously all you have to say?"

Gemini turned his attention towards Luna.

"You just saw a girl slice apart her white cube and driving herself unconscious..."

Luna grabbed her axe with both hands and threw it at the creature asbshe shouted:

"And you don't even bother to sound more shocked!?"

The axe struck Gemini and split him in half, only for both halves to melt, slide away from the weapon, then merge back into the creature as he said:

" _To be honest, we saw that coming: After she spent so much time being ignorsnt and oblivious to her friend's discomforr, and after choosing to blame Girl Jordan rather than admit she was at fault, she would do everything to avoid having to take responsibility for her actions._ "

Gemini tilted their head. " _Sounds familiar to you?_ "

With those words said, Gemini was surrounded by an orange spiral of energy which consumed him before it teleported him out of the area, leaving the team alone.

"Does it sound familiar?" Luna repeated, lowering her head as she dissipated her weapon. "Is... is there an element of grudge in all of this?"

And then she turned to Lily and said, "Lily, we should better go back home before anything else happens."

"Luna..." Lily folded her arms and frowned. "You don't believe I'm turning evil, right?"

"Lily, those kinds of questions need proper thought before an answer can be given," the rockstar answered before she extended her hand forward. "Let's just, head back home and try to recover from what we just saw, okay?"

The aged-up toddler took a deep breath, and grabbed the hand. "Okay."

And so, the girls jumped back home, with Girl Jordan and her group watching them go away, Girl Jordan looking particularly worried.

 ** _Meanwhile, at the Loud House..._**

The Loud Parents sat on the table at the backyard, waiting for the rest of the girls to return for lunch. But while Rita looked somewhat calm, Lynn Sr. spoke:

"So, what should we do now? We no longer have Gemini or Divisu on our side, besides of the fact that they're our missing son and daughter, who may not be returning home anytime soon."

"Well, I guess the only "I mean, it's not like a clue on what to do next is going to come out of the sky."

As if on cue, Mrs. Johnson landed on the rooftop, then promptly jumped down and ran up to the couple.

"Mrs. Johnson?!" Lynn Sr. exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!"

Mrs. Johnson sat down and caught her breath before she said:

"I'm here because there's something I need to tell you!"


	15. Episode VIII: Book

**And now we're here in episode 8. Which also doubles as the end of the second third of this story, starting from episode 9 we'll be heading towards the climax.**

 **And oh boy, do I have something planned for it. :)**

 **Now, technically, episode 9 isn't completely finished when I post this, but this episode is fully done, so... to compensate, how about the next part isn't posted until after episode 9 is finished? XD**

 **But first, let's answer some reviews:**

 **1) Nobody245:**

 *** Clyde definitely hasn't been given the bone lately, has he? I add him to the magical repertoire of characters, and yet he's barely done anything of use. Don't worry, though, I'm sure next episode will fix that.**

 **2) ChernoMan:**

 *** Let me see how they went to see how badly I rushed them:**

 **** Lynn, being the superstitious person she is, not to mention a sore loser, refuses to believe that Girl Jordan is good and tries to rationalize Lily's behavior as her being mind control, despite the fact she has no proof of this.**

 **** Becky lost her best friend thanks to both her own actions, unknowingly shoving how being a Lux Aura was fun at first glance to Dana, and by asking Girl Jordan for help, which set her up to fall and turn into an Eclipse. Alongside her depression, I don't think she was taking anything too well, and would rather not trust Gemini again.**

 **** Leni is Leni. Okay, more seriously, she's quite upset about a lot of things, Clyde seemingly having the same weapon as her is just one of them.**

 **** Yeah, I can see what you mean, I probably should've added a filler episode to set everything up.**

 *** I get to parody another common anime trope, too.**

 *** Technically we already had an adult Aura in Mrs. Johnson, but now we're getting to see the counterpart to the Lux Auras, the Umbra Auras, in adult form... may the lord help us all. XD**

 **3) animehero1000:**

 *** It's even decent advice out-of-universe, too! :)**

 *** She probably did.**

 *** Yeah, Johnson, what the heck'll be your excuse next time it happens?!**

 *** Sadly, that may not happen for a while... maybe...**

 **And now, to the chapter!**

* * *

Some time had passed since the last event between the Lux and Umbra Auras, even though it could probably have continued like normal right then and there.

Time was an elusive mistress, it seemed.

Regardless, the Loud family were all resting at their loud abode, except for a single girl by the name of Lynn, who was sitting under the tree at the backyard, her eyes closed as she hit her cheeks twice.

" _Alright, Lynn, you're about to encounter the toughest challenge you've ever faced yet. Your baby sister's being mind-controlled by that Girl Jordan, and as long as they're around, there's no way you'll be able to defeat Girl Jordan and break the control._ "

Lynn opened her eyes with determination.

" _So, you're going to have to beat it out of Lily yourself!_ "

Then, the girl took out a pen and paper, wrote something down on it, and turned it into a paper plane.

She stood up, looked at the second floor window, and threw it, hoping it would reach Lily's bedroom, or at least reach the second floor.

A gust of wind was all it needed to cause the plane to crash.

Nevertheless, Lynn grabbed the plane, went back to her original position, and tried again.

She got the exact same results, causing her to state, with utter determination:

"Okay, I think it's time to face my second toughest challenge yet."

 ** _Meanwhile, at the Loud House..._**

The parents were walking down the second floor hallway as they talked about what they were going to do.

"We can't stall anymore, Lynn, we need to tell the girls about what Mrs. Johnson told us about the book!" Rita stated with her arms folded. "If we don't tell them about it now, who knows how long it'll be before they find out on their own?"

"But what about Lucy? What are we going to do with her?" Lynn Sr. asked, getting his wife's attention. "Surely, finding out that her great grandma's book has been used for this kind of stuff is going to hurt her feelings."

Rita took a deep breath and put a hand on her husband's shoulder. "Lynn, sometimes we have to be tough on our children for them to grow strong. And this, is one of those times."

Lynn Sr. nodded in agreement, and the parents eventually reached the living room, where the sisters were watching some TV. That is to say, most of them, as Lucy was strangely absent.

"Oh hi, Mom and Dad," Lori greeted, getting her siblings to pay attention to their parents. "Is there something you need?"

The couple exchanged looks, nodded, and Lynn Sr. said:

"First of all, where's Lucy?"

 ** _Lucy and Lynn's bedroom..._**

Great Grandma Harriet's spellbook dropped to the ground as the one who read it, obviously Lucy, covered her mouth with her hands and shivered as she backed away into the wall.

" _I only wanted to see if there was a spell in the book I could use to help with the situation..._ " the goth thought as she lowered her head. " _But... what the heck are some of those spells?!_ "

Lucy looked back at the book, which was open in a page depicting an entity very similar to Gemini.

She barely had time to process this, however, since she heard some loud footsteps heading towards her room. So, she looked around everywhere, and stopped at the window...

Moments later, Lori opened the door and went inside with the rest of the sisters, who paid no attention to the open window as they walked to the book.

"So, this is what Mrs. Johnson told Mom and Dad was the basis for Lincoln and Lisa's project?" Luan asked as she and Luna crouched down and looked at the current page. "Why would Great Grandma Harriet's book have a spell about enchanting fabric?"

Then the sisters flipped the page, showing an entity being grown inside a tube...

"Not only that, but it also has information on how to create artificial life forms, how to manipulate light..." Luna said, pausing as she realized, "Just like how Lincoln does."

Luan flipped the page. "And this one has information on how to control darkness... Which is what Lisa does."

Lori grabbed the book read it, pacing back and forth as she said:

"How to give immaterial energy a physical form, how to split people's inner demons into separate beings, how create objects that can change a person between one form and the other..."

Lori closed the book.

"Literally everything we've dealt with so far, is in this book!"

"But if that's the case, then that means..." Lana remarked. "Lincoln and Lisa must've used this book as a guide for their project!"

"Well, more Lisa than Lincoln," Lola shrugged. "I mean let's be honest, this is Lucy's personal stuff, so I see Lisa being more willing to snoop around with it than Lincoln."

And then, Luan realized something. "Say, now that you mention her, where is Lucy?"

The sisters looked around and waited for a few seconds, expecting Lucy to come out of nowhere, or reveal she was there all along and nobody had noticed her.

But nothing happened.

"Alright, looks like we have to look for her," Lori remarked. "I'll go out and see if I can find her outside, you guys look around the area and the house!"

Lori promptly transformed into her Lux Aura form and jumped off to begin her search, while the rest of the sisters searched around the house, though Lily remained behind for a moment before she joined as well.

 ** _Back with Lucy..._**

The girl, still in her base form, ran away as fast as she could across the streets, dodging as many people as she could.

"I can't come back there, I definitely can't go back!" the goth said to herself as she looked for a place to hide. "My sisters are going to have a dozen questions about that book, and I already have enough questions popping in my head!"

Then, she stopped at the square and caught her breath, before she looked around the area some more for some potential hiding spots.

"Mrs. Loud?"

Lucy flinched and turned around, calming down once she saw it was just Mrs. Johnson, carrying a bag filled with snacks.

"O-Oh, it's just you, Mrs. Johnson," the goth said, slightly chirping up when she saw the bag. "What's that bag for?"

"There's a teacher's meeting at school today, and we were all asked to bring something to eat and drink, since we're going to be there for a while," the woman answered as she looked into her bag. "In my case, I bought some chocolate bars, energy bars, cereals..."

The woman stopped counting the food she bought when she saw Lucy looking at the bag with a concerned look, and a hand over her growling stomach.

"Did you have anything for lunch, Mrs. Loud?" Mrs. Johnson inquired.

"No, I ran away before I ate anything," Lucy answered, twiddling her fingers. "And truth be told, I don't think I'll be able to return back home until dinner..."

Frowning at the sight of the goth, Mrs. Johnson took out a chocolate bar and handed it to her. "Here you go."

The goth cheerfully grabbed the bar, opened it, and started eating it as the woman asked:

"May I ask why you ran away from home?"

"I found some... unnerving spells in my Great Grandma Harriet's spellbook, and I thought that if I stayed behind, they'd bombard me with questions before I could process everything," the goth hesitantly answered. "They're probably looking for me now, though, so I'm looking for a place to hide."

Mrs. Johnson folded her arms. "I see... and how long do you think you'll be able to hide?"

Lucy finished eating the bar. "Come again?"

"Mrs. Loud, take it from someone who has been the teacher of your older sisters and brothers: No matter how much or how hard you run, you'll have to face whatever's troubling you eventually," Mrs. Johnson stated. "In fact, the more you run away, the more likely things will get worse before they get better."

Lucy frowned. "R-Really?"

"Yeah."

Mrs. Johnson smiled and brushed Lucy's head.

"But I'm sure you'll do the right thing."

With that said, Mrs. Johnson walked away and left the goth girl alone to decide what to do next: Go back home, or continue running away.

Before she had much time to consider her options, however, she spotted a familiar face that brought a chill to her spine, and made her transform into her Lux Aura form as she exclaimed:

"Girl Jordan!"

The girl herself looked up and turned to look at Lucy, who held her scythe ready for a fight in the streets.

 ** _Meanwhile, back at the Loud House..._**

Lily ran out of the house and went into the backyard, where the first thing she saw was the peculiar sight of Lynn, looking positively livid, taking deep breaths as she looked at the crumbled paper plane sternly.

"Lynn, why are you here?" Lily asked, getting the jock's attention.

"Well, I wanted to take some time to prepare myself mentally for what I'm about to do," Lynn replied before showing the crumbled paper plane to her sister. "I made an explanation on a piece of paper and I tried to send it flying to you, but the stupid wind won't let this thing get off the ground."

"And I don't think it's going to work anymore," Lily frowned. "That plane looks a bit too crumbled and damaged to fly."

"Hey, if Dad can still drive Vanzilla despite all of its faults, then certainly this crumbled paper plan can still fly!" Lynn argued.

Lily scratched the back of her head. "I... guess I see your point, but I don't think that's a fair comparison."

"You're right, this thing has a lot less bruises than Vanzilla does," Lynn crumbled the paper and threw it away. "Anyway, where are the rest of our sisters?"

"They left to search for Lucy when we found out she wasn't in the house," Lily replied, earning a surprised look from Lynn. "We thought she was in plain view but we didn't notice her, only to end with radio silence when we waited for her to say something."

"I see..." the jock shook off the shock. "Anyway, I'll join the rest of our sisters after I deal with something important."

The Red Lux Aura pounded her gauntlets as she looked strictly at Lily, who took a step back as she asked, "L-Lynn, what are you doing?"

"Remember when I said I was preparing myself mentally for what I was about to do?" Lynn asked, pounding her gauntlets once more. "Well, I'm sorry, Lily, but I can't let Girl Jordan keep controlling you anymore."

"Controlling me?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about this time?"

"It's obvious that you're being mind controlled by her, Lily," Lynn replied, folding her arms. "I mean, what other reason could there be to you being so... happy, and friendly, and just not treating her like the enemy she's supposed to be?"

"I don't know, maybe I hung out with her a couple of times? Maybe I saw her before she turned into an Umbra Aura, and saw that she wasn't an evil person like you're making her out to be," Lily responded, causing Lynn to grow angrier with each response. "And maybe, just maybe, you're letting your superstitions cloud your mind like that other time-"

"Stop bringing that up! It only happened once, and that was years ago! And this "Girl Jordan is a friend" nonsense is coming up more than once!" Lynn yelled at the top of her lungs. "There's nothing similar about that situation, nor is there anything about it that is relevant to what's happening right now!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Lily rolled her eyes. "I mean, the rest of the family isn't buying your nonsense like last time."

"That's it, I'm knocking the mind control out of you right here, right now!" Lynn pounded her gauntlets for a final time. "And once I'm done with you, I'll head for Girl Jordan next, so she never thinks about doing it again!"

The jock lunged straight at Lily, who summoned her mace and blocked the jock's attack, causing the two to be slightly sent back by the force of the clash.

"I really don't want to fight with one of my sisters, Lynn," Lily spoke, gripping her mace tightly. "But if there's no way to talk you out of this, then so be it!"

Lynn gritted her teeth at the statement and lunged in for another strike, throwing several punches at Lily's direction, which the girl dodged before she swung her mace, hitting Lynn right in the face and sending her flying over the fence, though the Red Lux Aura took the chance to shoot her gauntlet at Lily.

However, the gauntlet didn't strike the girl as she expected: Instead, it went to her back, grabbd her by the back of her bodysuit, and threw her straight towards Lynn's direction before following her.

 ** _Back with Girl Jordan and Lucy..._**

The former continued to stand still while the latter kept holding a battle stance, not sure if things were going to devolve into a battle anytime soon, or if her fears were unfounded. Nevertheless, after everything that had happened up to that point, she couldn't take any risks.

"Y-You're the one who's with Leni and the plushie creatures!" Lucy remarked, earning an annoyed look from the girl. "Are you here to try and corrupt me into an Umbra Aura?!"

"Honestly, I'm surprised you were picked to become a Lux Aura," Girl Jordan answered as she took a look at Lucy's figure. "I mean, from your looks, to your attitude, you seem to be more fitting for an Umbra Aura if anything."

Lucy flinched. "So you _are_ here to corrupt me!"

"I never said that, I'm just saying something that came to mind," Girl Jordan sighed. "But you seem to be in a delicate state, so, I'm sorry for saying something insensitive like that."

Hearing that, Lucy calmed down a bit, though she was still concerned over the potential hidden agenda the girl could have. However, her attention was quickly caught when she noticed a notable absence.

"W-Where's your group? I'm pretty sure you're normally accompanied by three girls."

"Yeah, that's usually the case, but we decided to leave ourselves to our own devices today," the archer answered as she put her arms behind her head. "I may meet them again if something big happens, like an Eclipse coming out, but until then, we're each to our own."

Girl Jordan promptly returned the question.

"What about you? Don't you usually scout out with your sisters or something? What are you doing here alone?"

Lucy, caught off-guard by the question, flinched and took a step back, before she took a deep breath and explained:

"I was looking at a spellbook my Great Grandma Harriet used to own, trying to look for one, just one spell that could potentially help us with this current, bonkers situation."

Girl Jordan, seeing the girl was going to keep talking for a while, walked to Lucy with a nonchalant look.

"But what I found instead was enchanted fabric, giving inanimate things life, control over light and darkness, and stuff that reminded me of what Gemini and Divisu, Lincoln and Lisa, or whoever they're supposed to be now have been doing up to this point!"

Girl Jordan stopped right in front of Lucy, who wasn't paying attention to her at this point.

"And... I thought that, if I had stayed behind, my sisters would've bombarded me with questions about the book, about the spells, about whether I knew this stuff or not!"

Lucy took a deep breath.

"And... I also wondered... if Leni, Lincoln, and Lisa used it too... and whether that made me guilty of helping them, since-"

Girl Jordan put a hand on Lucy's shoulder, returning the girl to reality and allowing her to listen to what she said next:

"Well, were you the one who wrote the book? Did you have any knowledge over the spells that were used before now? Were you even aware that your siblings used the spellbook for the project? And assuming you did, would you have let them use it for that? If your answer to any of my questions is no, then you might not be as guilty as you think you are."

Lucy lowered her head and gripped her scythe. "Why... are you acting like this?"

Girl Jordan raised an eyebrow, and remained unfazed as Lucy exclaimed:

"Why aren't you scolding me for being a crybaby, like you supposedly did last time with Dana?!"

"Listen, that time, I acted too brash and caused a girl to become susceptible to become an Eclipse," Girl Jordan replied. "The last thing I want to do is repeat my mistakes, so, I'm trying to steer you away from that path."

Girl Jordan walked past Lucy.

"It's up to you whether you trust me or not, but at the very least, try to humor the idea that maybe things aren't as simple as you've been made to think for so long."

With that said, the girl patted Lucy's back and walked away, probably to meet up with her friends elsewhere. With this done, Lucy was left alone to think about what to do next once again, this time having a bit of a clearer sight in her options:

She could believe Girl Jordan, she could go back home and tell what she knew to her sisters, she could continue running away, she could continue thinking Girl Jordan was the enemy, and some other variation of those four options.

However, her attention was once again taken when another familiar figure came out of the shadows, one that was a little closer to home.

One of her sisters, in fact.

"Leni?!"

 ** _Back in the fight with Lily and Lynn..._**

The duo crashed on the ground and Lynn almost punched Lily in the face, only for the girl to roll away and return the attack with her mace, though Lynn managed to block it with her leg.

The Red Lux Aura then jumped away and shot both of her gauntlets at the girl, who took a couple steps back as she tried to quickly think of a strategy to combat the flying fists.

However, the only thing she managed to think of, and do, was to swing her mace right as the gauntlets tried to hit her, which worked for the most part until Lynn rushed and tackled her, pinning her against the ground with both her hands as the gauntlets loomed over them.

"Stop resisting, Lily! This is for your own good!" Lynn snapped.

"What's for my own good?! Beating me senseless with your gauntlets?!"Lily replied, trying her hardest to break free from Lynn's grasp. "And plus, Lucy's currently missing! Don't you think finding her's more important right now?!"

Upon hearing that, Lynn faltered for a moment, allowing Lily to break free and stand up, while the jock continued thinking about it.

However, just as she ran away, Lynn stood up and sternly stated, with her eyes glowing golden:

"I need to keep my priorities straight, Lily!"

Lynn grabbed her gauntlets back.

"And right now, you take priority!"

The jock ran after the girl and tried to punch her, only for a metallic blade to stop the fist moments before it clashed with the Lux Aura's face.

And it wasn't a thin blade like Becky's sword, this one was far bigger and wider, kinda... like an axe's.

"Care to explain what are you doing?"

Lynn looked up and flinched upon seeing the person blocking the attack was none other than Luna, who looked pretty angrily at the jock.

"Luna!" Lynn exclaimed, her eyes immediately turning back to normal. "I-I was just trying to beat the mind control out of Lily! She's being controlled by Girl Jordan somehow!"

Luna pinched the bridge of her nose. "Another one of your delusions, Lynn?"

"Don't tell me you don't believe me either!" Lynn whined.

The rocker rolled her eyes and turned to Lily.

"You can go look for Lucy, Lily, I have to stay behind and give Lynn a scolding."

The girl hesitantly nodded and left, leaving both Lux Auras alone to talk, although Lynn looked like she was about to start another fight...

 ** _Back with Leni and Lucy..._**

Lucy gripped her scythe once again, though unlike with Girl Jordan, she quickly calmed down when she heard Leni talk:

"Relax, I'm not here to fight you. If anything, I just, like, want to see if you've been able to train, if even just a little bit, since Geminicoln left you and the girls' side."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "Geminicoln?"

"I honestly, like, have no idea what to call him now, so I just merged both of his names together to save myself the trouble," Leni shrugged and folded her arms. "I do know I'll have to call him one name or the other when we meet in private, but for now, I'm using the merged named."

This immediately caught Lucy's curiosity. "And what do you call Divisu, or Lisa's plushie form?"

"Divisa, or at other times Lisasu," Leni chuckled a little. "Honestly, I think the latter one, like, sounds better."

The fashionista quickly shook her head and remembered her mission.

"Regardless, have you and the girls been training well, Lucy?"

The goth rubbed her arm and looked away.

"To be honest with you, we haven't been training all that since that bombshell was dropped right on our heads. We've mostly been focusing on dealing with the cores of darkness before they turned into Shadows."

Leni raised an eyebrow and scratched her chin.

"And have you encountered, like, any Shadows since then?"

Lucy shrugged. "Every once in a while we encounter a Shadow or two, but we deal with them pretty easily. They're certainly not as troublesome as the cat Shadow we faced a long time ago."

Leni sighed. "That's not a good thing."

Lucy's eyes widened. "It's not?"

Leni stood up, and folded her arms behind her back, holding a stern look as she told Lucy the harsh truth.

"Lucy, I hate to tell this to you so late into the game, but the reason Geminicoln gave you and the girls the task to get rid of the cores of darkness, was not only so that there would be no Shadows to face, but so you'd also have no way to grow stronger since you became Lux Auras."

Lucy flinched, but before she could accuse the fashionista of lying to her, Leni continued.

"I mean, think about it: it's been over a month, possibly several months, since this entire thing started! Normally, you'd think you'd grow stronger over time, but besides learning new tricks, can you honestly say you and our sisters have gotten even a tiny little bit stronger?"

Lucy thought about her answer, and looked away with a forlorn look.

"I can't say we have gotten stronger. Especially not me; I feel exactly the same from when I started."

"And if neither you nor our sisters fix that right now, I can't say you'll live to tell the tale," Leni sighed. "Because, and again, it hurts me to reveal this to you: Lincoln and Lisa's project is much stronger than the strongest Shadow you've faced so far.

Leni frowned and clutched her stomach.

"In fact, I fear they may be even stronger than Lincoln and Lisa themselves."

Lucy winced. "T-That's possible?!"

Leni folded her arms and nodded.

"As soon as the Shadows entered the picture, everything became possible, Lucy. Which is why I totes need to teach you something that'll help you and our sisters be more prepared for when that happens."

Lucy, immediately remembering Leni was the enemy right now, gripped her scythe.

"And how do I know I can trust you?! You're with Gemini and Divisu!"

Leni folded her arms.

"Do you have any other idea to get strong enough to beat Lincoln and Lisa's project by the end of the year?"

Quickly coming up blank, Lucy lowered her scythe and listened.

"Listen, there's a way that the Lux Beings, and really any being in general, can get stronger without the need of constant training. It's only temporary, though; After about a half hour, the process will end and the being will turn back to their original strength."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "Does it have something to do with Lily's grey form?"

"I don't know how she achieved that, but no, the method and that form are completely unrelated," "First, you have to think that you want to get rid of your verbal tics, then say them so they can be taken out of your system."

Lucy raised another eyebrow, this time incredulously.

"That's, like, totes the way it works, Lucy."

Both the "Like" and "Totes" orb returned, appearing at Leni's sides before they dropped to the ground like rocks.

"See? Now give it a shot."

Though the girl still felt like Leni couldn't be trusted that much, the difference in power she could see from Leni right now spoke for itself: The girl had indeed grown vastly stronger, a fact Lucy found ridiculous since she was already quite strong before.

Nevertheless, Lucy rubbed her forehead and tried to process.

"Sigh, alright."

A black orb with the word "Sigh" appeared next to Lucy, and it promptly fell to the ground as the girl started feeling a notable difference in her own power.

"Oh my goodness... you were right, Leni! I actually feel stronger now!"

Leni smiled. "Good, now remember, this will only last for a half hour: Once that time limit's up, you'll go back to your base strength, so if you ever use this kind of tactic, be sure to end the fight before then, okay?"

Lucy nodded and Leni crouched down.

"Now, I need to ask you a favor: Once you meet up with our sisters again, because you have to meet them again eventually, be sure to tell them what I told you, but don't tell them I was the one who told you about it."

Leni frowned and lowered her head.

"After everything they've learned, they probably would refuse to try out something I found out. So, just say you found out about it while scouting on your own, okay?"

Lucy nodded, and this caused Leni to smile and brush her hair.

"You know, Lucy, I'm sad to say I didn't notice this before, but you truly do seem like a good girl at heart."

Leni took a deep breath.

"Which is why what I must do next will hurt me quite a bit."

Before Lucy could wonder what her sister meant by that, Leni's eyes glew golden as she raised her arm, which was covered in a dark matter as Lucy started thinking it might be better for her to escape right then and there.

Suddenly, a black and white vine of sort came out of the ground and held her in place, with the Gothic Lux Aura looking around until she found the source to be none other than Gemini and Divisu, both standing on top of a building.

However, while Divisu looked straight at Lucy, Gemini held his head low, almost as if he couldn't bear to watch what was about to happen. And even Divisu's face, though frozen in a little smile, seemed hesitant to witness what was going to happen.

With this done, Lucy turned back to Leni, and the last thing she managed to see before everything went black was Leni, looking rather forlorn, extending her shadowed arm at her as she said:

"I'm sorry."

 ** _Back with Lily..._**

The girl reunited with her sisters, who had gathered at a rooftop in the city. They were looking over the landscape from the roof, and they only stopped when they saw Lily arrive.

"Hi girls," she greeted. "Have you managed to find any trace of Lucy?"

"I wish I could say yes, but no matter where we look at, we can't spot her among the people!" Lola answered. "I mean, I know we're quite high up in the sky, but how hard could it be to find an all-black girl among a city filled with colors?!"

"And we didn't have any luck while we searched her on the streets either," Luan remarked, putting a hand on her cheek. "You'd think she was using her invisibility power to make sure we couldn't find her something."

"Wait, Lucy can turn invisible?" Lana inquired.

Luan raised an eyebrow. "Of course she can, why wouldn't you think so? I mean, I'm pretty she used that sometime ago in one of our previous fights."

"If you mean the fight against the Eclipse of Chandler, I'm afraid that was just us failing to notice her, literally like usual," Lori answered, lowering her head. "And besides, her being able to turn invisible sounds like a pretty mean joke, since we already have a hard time remembering where she is."

Luan lowered her head and nodded in agreement. However, this didn't stop Lily from asking a question.

"Luan, how do you know Lucy can turn invisible?"

Just as Luan's eyes widened at the question, the fround shook, and in a specific part of the city, a giant black-purple dome emerged, which could only mean one thing.

"O-Oh look, an Eclipse is coming up!" Luan remarked as she stood up and walked to the edge of the rooftop. "We should go deal with it right away!"

Lily frowned. "But my question-"

"We need to keep our priorities straight, Lily," Luan replied. "We deal with the Eclipse first, and then you can ask as many questions as you want."

With that said, Luan jumped off and headed straight for the dome, with the twins following her while Lori walked to Lily's side.

"I'll be sure to get an answer out of Luan when I get the chance, but right now, she's literally right: We need to focus on defeating the Eclipse."

Lily and Lori exchanged looks, nodded in unison, and the pair followed the remaining sisters towards the dome, unaware of just who was creating the dome...


	16. Episode VIII: Poetry

**And now we come to the second half of episode 8, with episode 9 half-done.**

 **Don't worry, it will be fully done when I update again. XD**

 **There's not much else I'd like to say, so let's answer some reviews:**

 **1) Nobody245: Lisa's script has a couple plotholes in it.**

 **2) animehero1000:**

 *** Sorry, but sometimes you just gotta anime.**

 *** Assuming things play out as you expect.**

 *** *cpugh* I know right? *cough***

 *** She's just asking for it, you know?**

 *** It's better than nothing.**

 **And now, to the chapter.**

* * *

While Lucy's Eclipse's Shadow Zone was making itself visible, a group of girls were paying no attention to it at all. These being the judgement trio.

Kat, Joy, and Mollie had finished building something on top of a tree. More specifically, they had built a treehouse big enough to house themselves, Girl Jordan, and at least one other person inside.

"Okay, that should be it," Mollie remarked as she flew back and took a better look at the house. "Now we have a decent place to hide just in case we have to go on the run."

"Honestly, we should've gotten this finished a lot earlier than now," Joy said as Mollie landed on the ground. "I mean seriously, why couldn't you come up with the idea for a treehouse a month ago?!"

"Because everybody, including me, were still trying to process everything we had found out?" Mollie responded, dissipating her wings into light. "I mean, everybody got thrown quite a few bombshells that day."

"Yeah, but we had over a month to get this thing ready, and yet we only started working on it last week, and just finished it today!" Joy replied. "Kat, you agree with me, right?!"

The girl, who was looking at the distance, remained silent for a moment before she gave her answer.

"I believe the fact we have a new place to hide is enough."

Kat moved aside and allowed Joy and Mollie to see the Shadow Zone Lucy had created, causing their looks to turn horrified in a manner of seconds.

"Guys!"

The trio turned around, and guess who was approaching them?

Yeah, it was Girl Jordan.

"Girl Jordan! Have you seen that shadow zone?!" Kat exclaimed, pointing at the distance.

"Yeah, I did!" Girl Jordan answered as she braked right before she hit Kat. "It seems that my little joke from before turned into a reality!"

Joy raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"I met one of the Loud sisters, who asked me why you weren't with me today," the archer answered as she transformed. "I explained it to her, and then joked that we would meet each other again if an Eclipse showed up."

Now transformed, Girl Jordan turned to look at the shadow zone and finished, "Lo and behold, an Eclipse has shown up, and we got to go there and help defeat it-"

" _You... don't really have to do that..._ "

The quartet turned to face the one who said that, and it turned out to be none other than Gemini, who was standing on top of a bush.

Naturally, nobody was happy to see him.

"You again..." Joy hissed.

"Just what do you want, Lincoln?" Girl Jordan asked, narrowing her eyes.

" _Your job as an Umbra Aura is to help empower the Eclipses, something that the Loud sisters still have clear in their minds,_ " Gemini answered, lowering their head as they added. " _If you and your friends show up to try help with the Eclipse, they're going to think you're there to empower it, and attack you!_ "

"I hate to say this, but he does have a point there," Mollie remarked, getting girls' attention. "And even if we show up in our Lux Aura forms, the red sister already showed us that it doesn't matter how we look: They still see us as the enemy."

"Well we can't stay here and do nothing, either," Kat stated. "Sure, there are other Lux Auras in Royal Woods, but who knows if they'll have any experience in dealing with Eclipses!"

"Actually, now that you mention it," Mollie scratched her chin. "Could there be other Umbra Auras as well?"

Upon hearing that, Girl Jordan narrowed her eyes and stated:

"If that's not a reason to get going already, then I don't know what is; Let's go!"

" _W-Wait, didn't you listen to anything I just said?!_ " Gemini asked.

"Why would we listen to you now? In fact, after everything you did, why would we listen to you anymore?" Girl Jordan hissed before she growled at the creature, "You broke my heart, and the hearts of several kids by disappearing for a month, only to return as a sentient plush toy who's working with another plush toy on something that will threaten all of Royal Woods!"

Gemini flinched and backed away, slowly lowering their head until they were resting on the ground, though this did nothing to quell the girl's rage:

"Do you really think now's the time to try and get some sympathy from us, you sick jerk? The only thing you're going to get out of us, is a beating, once we've managed to find a way to stop whatever it is you and your sister have planned!"

And with that said, the rest of the group transformed and followed Girl Jordan towards the zone, with Gemini taking one more look at the fleeting group before he sighed, turned into light and dispersed into the sky.

 ** _Back with the Sisters..._**

Lola, Lana, Luan, Lily, and Lori jumped off a rooftop and ran towards the dome, whose precise looks became clearer as they got closer.

The dome's purple color was so dark that it might as well have been black, and several skull-like images surged through it, spinning and spiraling all over it.

"This shadow zone definitely feels a bit more threatening than the average one," Lola remarked, scratching the back of her head. "But every other zone we've ever encountered all looked the same as Dana's zone. Why does this one look different?"

"I may have an idea why."

The team turned around and saw Luna arriving at the scene.

"Luna?!" Luan asked as the girls ran up to the rockstar. "What are you doing here? In fact, where have you been?"

"I was scolding Lynn over something when I noticed the ground was shaking, so I decided to go see what was going on," Luna folded her arms and rolled her eyes. "As for why didn't Lynn come, I guess she was so deep into her temper tantrum that she didn't notice either the earthquake or the fact I was gone."

"Geez, the situation must've been bad if Lynn entered a temper tantrum," Lola remarked, scratching the back of her head. "I mean, I'm pretty sure she prefers to beat something up whenever she gets really riled up."

"Well she did try to hit me, but I managed to keep her in place until she threw the tantrum," Luna turned back to the zone. "Anyway, I found this dome, no doubt from the Eclipse's shadow zone, but something about it felt... different."

Then, she looked at her hand. "So, I touched it-"

The sisters gasped.

"Have you gone nuts, Luna?!" Lori exclaimed, stomping the ground. "This thing is someone's darkness concentrated in the shape of an entire zone that the Eclipse lives in, who knows what could happen if you touch it!"

"Do you feel any different?" Lily inquired.

Luna shook her head.

"No, I don't feel any different, in fact the only thing that happened when I touched it was that I got a vision of who was inside."

Then, she frowned.

"And I'm afraid the person the Eclipse was made from, was Lucy."

And as the sisters' eyes grew wider in shock, the dome itself seemingly responded to Lucy's name being called, and a skull-shaped door appeared and slid open, revealing a pitch black interior with half-heartedly drawn skeletons waiting to welcome the girls.

Yes, really.

"L-Luna, before we go in, are you sure the person you saw was Lucy?" Luan asked, trying to stay calm at the disturbing entrance. "Couldn't it have been some other goth or emo kid?"

"Y-Yeah! Lucy isn't the only emo-goth in Royal Woods!" Lola added. "M-Maybe you just confused someone else with her?"

"Guys, I'm very sorry to dash your hopes, but the person I saw really was Lucy," Luna replied, folding her arms. "However, there's really only one way to find out for ourselves: Go inside, and deal with the Eclipse."

The sisters nodded, and they promptly turned to face the entrance.

"So, an Eclipse born from one of our sisters..." Lana remarked as everybody walked inside. "I'm not going to lie, I wasn't expecting that."

"Though to be fair, we probably should've expected it," Luna said with a shrug. "I mean, if people can be turned into Eclipses, and the same process applies to Lux Auras, then it's only safe to assume even we wouldn't be safe from the process."

"Yeah, what we need to worry about now, is how strong this Eclipse is going to be," Lori remarked, getting everyone's attention. "We got lucky with the judgement trio because they were simply pulling a trial, but now we're literally going to have to fight it."

"And considering the fact that the owner of the Eclipse is supposedly Lucy, one of our sisters," Lily took a deep breath. "That won't make things any easier."

The door closed, and after taking a few more steps, the sisters' vision began getting darker and darker, until they couldn't see anything...

Then, suddenly, the half-heartedly drawn skeletons appeared to their left and right, playing equally half-drawn instruments as a sole light turned on, and shined upon the Eclipse before spreading across the field, revealing the landscape was completely black and white, and looked like it was drawn on paper.

As for the Eclipse, it resembled a gargantuan skeleton, almost as big as the zone itself, sat down in front of a massive desk, writing something with its bony hands as several bats flew around the place, emitting loud noises as the skeleton was solely focused on whatever was on the desk.

They wore a long, body-covering black dress with a thorny headress, and a broken wheel stuck on its neck. Or, what was the equivalent of a neck.

 **\- Eclipse of Guilt, Hallvard -**

"So, that's the Eclipse made from Lucy?" Luan inquired, taking a step back as she looked at the skeletal figure. "I guess it was only natural that it would be something big and scary like a massive skeleton, but what's it doing?"

"I'm pretty sure heading closer to find out what exactly wouldn't be such a good idea," Luna remarked as she summoned her axe. "For now, we have to focus on ending this as soon and painlessly as possible."

"We're afraid the "painless" part isn't going to be possible."

Upon hearing that, the team turned around and saw Leni, Gemini, and Divisu sitting on one top of a flying pile of books

"You again?!" Luna hissed. "Are you the reason why Lucy turned into an Eclipse?!"

"Lucy's immense guilt over the alleged fact her book was the base for the project is the reason she turned into an Eclipse," Leni explained sternly. "All we did was be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and wound up getting sucked into the zone before we could escape."

"Huh, it's quite weird to hear Leni talk without saying "Like" or "Totes" like usual," Luan remarked. "And yes, I know I'm saying this after hearing her talk just once."

"Oh, I took those off before coming here," Leni shrugged. "What, didn't you see the craters outside the shadow zone?"

Lana scratched the back of her head. "Well, we did, but we thought those were the result of a fight earlier..."

And then Luan, of all people, noticed the more pressing matter:

"Wait, what do you mean you took off your verbal tics?"

"Exactly what I said: I took out both verbal tics you usually associate with me before heading into this zone," Leni replied. "You can take that either literally, or you can take that as me saying I decided to take things seriously."

Then, she stood up.

"What matters is that I'm right now stronger than when you first fought me."

"Well, that doesn't really mean anything if you're neither going to fight us or help us fight against this giant beast, does it?" Lori replied, before she gripped her spea. "Just to let you know, if you do plan to fight us, we'll literally throw even the kitchen sink at you until you go away!"

Divisu tilted her head. " _And what will you use to deal with the Eclipse, then?_ "

Suddenly, the ground shook violently for the faintest of seconds.

" _Especially since it seems to be about to have an episode..._ " Gemini added, tilting his head as well.

The ground shook just as violently a couple more times as the sisters turned to look at the giant skeleton, who was causing the ground to shake by simply hitting the paper with the top of their pencil.

They did this a couple more times as the bats began to annoy them even further, and then they stopped, followed by a short silence...

Which was then followed by the skeleton grabbing its skull and shrieking to the skies, somehow summoning several blocks of cement that began plummeting all over the place, forcing the sisters and the trio to dodge the blocks.

This continued until a bunch of dust around the area gathered, took the form of a bunny, and leaped straight into the skeleton's skull, causing their anguish to stop.

And then a lightbulb materialized on top of them, with its brief light being so bright that everyone had to cover their eyes, lest they go blind.

Finally, the skeleton grabed their pencil and began writing once more... with the bats still bothering them.

"What the heck was that all about?!" Luna exclaimed.

"It's the attack of the Eclipse: An attack for both itself and you," Leni explained while looking at the creature. "It gets an idea, writes it only until its own bats cause it to forget what it was, and then summons blocks to try and destroy the bats."

"And what about the bunny made of dust?" Lana asked sternly.

Leni looked away and rolled her eyes. "It gives the skeleton a new idea to focus on, since it's terrible aim means it will never be able to destroy the bats themselves."

"Then the bats are our objectives!" Lori stated, gripping her spear tightly. "Everyone! Literally aim for the bats!"

The sisters nodded, and most of them jumped straight towards the bats, with Lily staying behind to look at Leni and the sentient plushies, who looked back at her for a moment.

They then turned around and headed to exit the zone, causing Lily to take a deep breath and join her sisters.

 ** _Meanwhile, with Lynn..._**

The Red Lux Aura walked along the streets of Royal Woods, punching walls, lampposts, and really anything that she came around at random.

The only thing she avoided were the citizens, who decided to avoid her in return.

This continued until she reached a smaller lamppost, one that was about the same size as Luna. What was a lamppost that size doing there was anybody's guess, not that Lynn minded: It was a perfect object to take out her anger with.

"Dang it! Dang it! Dang it! Dang it! Dang it!"

By the end of the explosion of anger, the lamppost could no longer be recognized as such.

"Who the heck does Luna think she is?! All I was trying to do was break Lily out of her mind control! And even if she wasn't mind controlled, how else are we supposed to explain the fact she decided to be... friendly with Girl Jordan of all people!"

Lynn sat on a bench and folded her arms.

"After that brat tried to beat her up, convinced her to let a core reach its penumbra state, and turn out to be a helper of one of the bad guys all along, she should want nothing to do with her anymore!"

She rested her arm on the side.

"And yet, she keeps acting as if Girl Jordan had been a friend of us all this time, when the truth is the exact opposite!"

And as the Lux Aura continued with her rant, Girl Jordan and the judgement trio watched from the safety of a rooftop, making sure to hide enough so she wouldn't see them by accident.

"Geez, she seems to be having a bit of a hissy fit. Is hissy the right word?" Mollie remarked, scratching her head. "Anyway, should we try to calm her down?"

"Hmm, if we think about this, she seems to be in a particularly violent state of mind," Kat remarked as she scratched her chin in thought. "If we keep our distance from her, then doing something to at least ease her fury a bit sounds like the best course of action."

"The best course of action for anybody other than us!" Joy sternly spoke. "Don't you remember what happened last time we met her?! She beat up Girl Jordan and refused to listen to us! Now that she's this angry, she'll try to pulverize us if she sees us!"

Kat hummed in thought, but before she could delve into the idea for long, someone spoke.

"Joy's right."

The trio turned around and focused on Girl Jordan, who maintained her look on LYNN.

"Lynn's in a very delicate state: And considering how she hasn't seen my good side, I don't think she'll listen to us no matter what we tell her. In fact, just seeing me might send her on a rampage."

Girl Jordan stood up and took a deep breath.

"We should focus on getting to the shadow zone to provide support for the Loud sisters."

Joy raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think they're going to be there?"

Girl Jordan rubbed her forehead.

"I don't know, maybe the fact that they're the Lux Auras we meet the most frequently? Anyway, let's go before she finds out we're here."

The team nodded in agreement and followed Girl Jordan out of the area.

And with them gone, nobody was there to witness as Lynn was visited by two furry plushies and a certain Loud sister.

"Leni! What do you want!?"

"I heard a Lux Aura was causing destruction on the streets," Leni replied, folding her arms as she threw a look of disapproval at the jock. "And for some reason, I'm not surprised that Lux Aura is you."

Lynn looked back at the streets, and seeing the destruction she caused, her anger faltered a little before she shook her head, and focused it on the fashionista.

"Yeah, I was angry, but none of this would've happened if you had told us about what happened to Lincoln and Lisa! If you had told us where they were, what happened to them, or heck, how the spells in Great Grandma Harriet's book really did work, none of this would've happened!"

" _It appears even our sisters aren't exempt from being blinded by their own rage,_ " Gemini spoke, taking a couple steps forward. " _Lynn, how can you honestly say you wouldn't have gotten angry enough to cause this destruction, when it's quite clear that you're the most violent out of our sisters?_ "

Lynn aimed her gauntlet at Gemini and immediately shot it, the weapon exploding once it hit Gemini, who was swallowed by the ensuing explosion.

"This all happened because you decided to keep this stuff secret for whatever reason! So don't go acting like you're in the right! This is all your fault!"

" _Oh really?_ " Divisu tilted her head. " _Everything is our fault, you say?_ "

Lynn's other gauntlet was shot, and the same thing that happened with Gemini did with Divisu.

"That's exactly what I said!"

"So, the destruction that you did by your own hands was our fault?" Leni asked as Lynn regenerated her gauntlets. "Lucy keeping what she knew about Gemini secret from everybody is our fault? Luna and Luan sending her to find out that stuff, is our fault?"

Lynn narrowed her eyes. "What excuses are you pulling out of your backdoor right now?! None of that stuff ever happened!"

" _How can you be so sure?_ "

Hearing that coming from behind her, Lynn turned around and saw Gemini and Divisu, both perfectly healthy, standing on the street next to each other.

" _For every second you kept an eye on Lucy, there were minutes or hours where she wasn't under your supervision. And knowing her, a lot of terrible, disturbing things could've happened in that time._ "

" _We can verify that she did spy on us, and found out something about our current objective that she agreed to keep quiet about._ "

"Stop lying!" Lynn stomped the ground. "After everything we've found out about you, do you really think I'll ever listen to you again!?"

Divisu chuckled. " _Hmph, it seems even our sisters can fail to do their jobs properly_."

" _Lynn Loud, even without taking into account the damage you've done to the city, this excessive anger is unbecoming of a protector of Royal Woods. You're supposed to defend the city, not destroy it. And as such, you're useless as a Lux Aura._ "

Just as the jock got ready to pummel the duo, Leni came up behind her, raised her by the neck of her bodysuit and covered her mouth with her shadowy hand, with the darkness spreading across Lynn's body as Gemini averted his eyes and Divisu spoke:

" _However, you might be useful as something else entirely..._ "

 ** _Back in the Shadow Zone..._**

The sisters attacked as many bats as they could, with Hallvard completely ignoring them for the most part, being solely focused on its writing.

This continued until Lori jumped up and threw a spear at a bat, who dodged just in time for the spear to head to Hallvard's ribs... and promptly phase through them, causing the skeleton to glow and become transparent for a moment before they turned back to normal.

"What the heck?!"

Luna, seeing this, got an idea. "So, wait, it's a skeleton-ghost thing who screams out loud and summons giant blocks of cement every time they lose focus on their work, or can't think of what to do next..."

Luan snapped her fingers. "It's a ghost writer with writer's block!"

"Talk about literary overkill," Lana remarked as she turned back to the skeleton. "I mean, I guess it fits Lucy to some extent, but she doesn't seem like the type to freak out about being unable to know what to write or do next."

"There's only so much roadblocks someone can take before they literally snap," Lori replied as she pierced a bat, causing it to turn to dust. "It's the same for everyone, even a normally quiet person like Lucy."

"And considering the things Lucy must've been keeping up until now," Luan said to herself, lowering her head and frowning. "That probably didn't help at all..."

A bat screeched in front of Luan, but the girl remained motionless as Luna landed next to her and swung her axe, slicing the bat in two.

"Luan, come on, stay focused! We need to destroy all the bats before Lucy's Eclipse screams again!"

The comedian didn't respond.

"Luan, are you listening to me?! Now's not the time to daydream or something!"

"I'm not daydreaming, I'm just... wondering..." Luan rubbed her arm. "Wondering if we have some fault for this Eclipse being here in the first place."

Luna's eyes widened. "What are you talking about, dude?!"

Luan frowned and took a deep breath.

"Luna, remember that time we sent Lucy to see what Gemini wanted to do, and how she kept quiet about it since then? And then we found out Lincoln and Lisa were Gemini and Divisu, and _then_ we found out Great Grandma Harriet's book, which was in Lucy's possession, was used to cause everything that's happened up to this point."

The duo turned to the skeleton, who seemingly moved to look away from them.

"With that in mind, don't you think its our fault this Eclipse is a thing now?"

Luna lowered her eyelids and her head with a contemplative look, though she barely got time to think about it before a bat screeched at her, forcing her to swing her axe and slice it to bits.

"You bring a good point, Luan, but we don't have time to think about it! We need to destroy the bats!"

With that said, Luna jumped away, leaving Luan to look down in regret... before she noticed Lily using one of the bats to fly around.

"Lily, what are you doing!"

"My mace can only hit these things at close range!" Lily exclaimed as she prepared to swing her weapon. "So I'm getting as close as possible!"

Before she could bonk the bat to death, however, it crashed on Hallvard's shoulder, blowing up and sending Lily flying away in the process.

Moments before she hit the ground, however, a winged figure came out of nowhere and caught, with the figure turning out to be Mollie as she took her gently to the ground, where Girl Jordan and her team were waiting for her.

"Are you okay?" Girl Jordan inquired.

"Yeah, I am now," Lily replied as she dusted herself. "Anyway, what are you doing here-"

"Girl Jordan!"

The girls looked up to see the Loud sisters looking down before they jumped down to the ground, most of them looking surprised at seeing the archer in the zone.

"I know what you're thinking: You think I'm here to empower the Eclipse and make everything even harder than it already is for you," Girl Jordan replied sternly as Mollie put Lily down. "But you're wrong: All I'm here to do is help you defeat it and turn everything back to normal."

Seemingly hearing that, the giant skeleton turned to look at the team and tilted its skull.

"So, wait, an Umbra Aura wants to help us defeat the Eclipse?" Lana asked, raising an eyebrow. "Isn't that counterproductive to your objective?"

Girl Jordan looked at Lily, smiled, nodded, and promptly gave her response.

"Just because I was made to help the Shadows, doesn't mean I _have_ to!"

Then, she summoned her bow and arrow and aimed up.

"If any of you got any projectiles, throw them up!"

Luan, realizing she did have projectiles this time, took out them out and threw them up, with Girl Jordan shooting an arrow at them that exploded upon contact.

What came next was a rain of pies flying down the area as the sisters jumped away, with the bats and Hallvard being completely caught up in the rain. But while Hallvard phased through everything, the bats were hit and dissipated into dust.

As soon as the sisters hit the ground, they caught their breath as the bats stopped coming out of thin air and the color returned to the zone, giving them a sense that things would only get better from here...

And then, one of the walls was pounded from the outside.

"What was that?" Lana asked.

Another couple pounds came, this time causing and spreading cracks around the wall.

"Everybody stand your ground!" Lori exclaimed as she readied her spear. "This literally isn't over yet!"

Two more pounds later, and the wall cracked and allowed whoever was making them to crash into the zone, roaring like a mad animal as their form became visible.

They were a giant ape-like creature covered in fiery fur, with red glowing eyes and a large overbite, revealing very sharp, crystalline teeth.

There's only one calling per Eclipse, however, so she'll have to go nameless.

"An Eclipse inside another Eclipse's shadow zone?!" Lola exclaimed in disbelief.

"It's an Eclipseception!" Luan shouted, putting both her hands on her cheeks.

Hearing that, the ape-like Eclipse roared at the group before it tried to kill them, only for Hallvard's bony hand to smack the beast away and off into the wall, causing it to slightly crack even more.

"It's got the ability to crack the Shadow Zone too?!" Lily remarked.

"In other words, if we let it run free for too long, this whole thing will collapse on top of us!" Girl Jordan stated as she readied her bow. "We don't have time to waste, let's finish this!"

Lily stood up and gripped her mace. "R-Right!"

Eventually, the simian creature threw Jordan's group away and ran after the duo, who separated, with Girl Jordan running away to get more distance while Lily stayed behind and prepared to hit her with her mace.

The beast immediately ignored Lily and ran after Girl Jordan.

"Jordan! It's coming after you!"

Girl Jordan turned around and saw the ape leap up high and get ready to pummel her to death, only to be caught by Hallvard's bony hand in mid-air.

Now caught in the skeleton's hand, the fiery ape tried to break free as Hallvard slowly lifted them up to her face, its blank rye sockets gaining little orbs of light for pupils as the beast recognized who was the Eclipse's true form.

It was Lynn.

And just as the skeleton noticed this, the ape blew fire right at her face, causing the Eclipse to scream as the fire spread across its form, summoning a tone of blocks that were thrown everywhere, with the simian Eclipse falling down hard enough to make everybody jump up, and for one block to hit Lily, sending her flying away.

"Lily!"

Hearing her voice being called, Lily looked at her back and saw Girl Jordan nervously getting ready to catch her somehow.

"Girl Jordan!"

The girl flailed her arms until she and Girl Jordan crashed, with them somehow holding hands as a result of the crash.

And in their intertwined fingers, a brief, silver light flashed before it spread across their bodies, the girls barely noticing what was going on before they were completely covered in it.

Once they hit the ground, the duo levitated up, the light around them cracking as their hands separated, and their new forms were fully revealed.

They both technically hadn't changed much: They still wore the sleeveless bodysuits, opera gloves, skirts, and boots as they previously did, but where their colors were once Lavender and Hot Pink respectively, they were now Silver, with White and Black highlights respectively.

Not only that, but the hand portion of the gloves had also become white with green fingers for Lily, and black with golden fingers for Girl Jordan.

Finally, the girls opened their eyes, revealing they had Purple and Golden eyes: Lily having a left golden pupil and right purple pupil, while Girl Jordan's order was reversed: golden on the right, purple on the left.

And with this, let's be honest, deus ex machina visible, everybody's attention was drawn upon them.

"It's like that silver form Lily took a long time ago, but... different..."

"Hooray for deus ex machinas!" Luan chirped.

Upon seeing the forms, the fiery ape's rage rapidly surged as she decided to dash towards the pair, who noticed her and summoned their weapons.

But mid-way through, the weapons turned into light and merged together, creating a type of cannon using Lily's mace as the body, and Girl Jordan's bow as the lever.

With very little time to question what was going on, the girls looked through the weapon's scope and got a clear aim at the fiery ape before they shouted:

"Lux-Umbra Cannon!"

The cannon shot the top of Lily's mace, which promptly cracked open to reveal over a couple dozen silver arrows heading directly to the fiery eclipse. Once it hit her, the arrows mostly blew up at them, before ending with a couple of smoke bombs.

However, none of the sisters felt comfortable celebrating just yet.

"I don't think that was enough to take her down!" Luna remarked, gripping her axe.

And then the top of Lily's mace rematerialized on the cannon.

"We still got one shot left!" Lily shouted as she and Jordan prepared to shoot again.

With their strength rapidly decreasing somehow, Lily and Jordan quickly aimed the cannon up and shot it, this time without saying a phrase.

Yet again, the top of the mace was shot at the sky, and once it reached the highest point, it blew up, revealing over a hundred arrows ready to rain down at the ape-like Eclipse, which they did as the smoke cloud from the earlier dissipated, revealing slight crack on the ape's form before it bathed in explosive arrows.

There were certainly a lot of explosions today.

Except for the remains of Hallvard, who didn't explode, but instead turned to dust and blew away as it revealed Lucy's True Eclipse form.

She resembled the girl herself, pale skin and all, but she sported a purple long-sleeved longjacket, with a halo of books floating behind her.

 **\- True Eclipse of Guilt, Solness -**

"Great, first we have to deal with an Eclipse inside another Eclipse's shadow zone, and now we have to deal with a True Eclipse on top of that!" Lori growled. "As if that literally wasn't enough-'

Everybody turned to face Lily and Girl Jordan, who turned back to their aura forms as they tried to keep a steady grip.

"Lily and Girl Jordan's odd transformation ran out after two attacks!"

And then they turned around once again to witness Lynn's Eclipse walking out of the smoke cloud, revealing several bruises across her simian body, with cracks all around it as well.

However, she could clearly still put up a fight.

"And it seems it didn't do much to Lynn's Eclipse either, although it did seem to weaken her a lot," Luan scratched the back of her head. "Kinda makes the transformation feel underwhelming, in a sense."

And then the entire zone began to crack and shake violently.

"But we haven't taken out the True Eclipse yet!" Luna exclaimed, looking around at the emerging cracks. "Why is the shadow zone collapsing?!"

"I'm making it collapse."

Everybody turned around to see Solness spreading her arms wide as she said:

"I'm going to keep Lynn distracted long enough for the zone to collapse on top of us! That should do enough damage to turn us back to normal!"

"And what if it doesn't?!" Girl Jordan asked.

Solness smiled. "Trust me, it will. Now go, before you're hit by it too!"

Nodding in agreement, the sisters and Girl Jordan's group ran to the exit and left the collapsing zone, just in time for Lynn's Eclipse to burst out of the rubble, now wreathed in flames.

"You... let them go..." the ape-like monster growled as it began growing bigger. "You... let **her** go!"

"Lynn, this entidad idea that Girl Jordan was mind-controlling Lily has gone too far! You have to turn back to a Lux Aura and let this superstition go!"

"It's not a superstition! It's the truth! It's the only explanation! It's the only way it makes sense!"

"Just as I feared, you're far too stubborn to reason with! Fine, if you're not going to back down by choice..."

Solness cracked her knuckles.

"You're going to back down by force!"

 ** _Outside the Zone..._**

The Loud sisters, Girl Jordan and her group jumped out of the zone before the cracks fully consumed the barrier, causing it to collapse into itself and fall down, ending the fight in an instant.

"The Eclipse... Just helped us," Lola remarked.

"Well, the one the Eclipse was made from _is_ one of our sisters," Luan argued. "But still, considering the True Eclipses are different from the real person, to think she'd actually go out of her way to help us escape..."

Meanwhile, Jordan's group celebrated the fact they were still alive. Well, Mollie did.

"Good thing we came out of there alive," Kat remarked.

"We barely did anything!" Mollie chirped.

Joy rolled her eyes. "That's not something to be happy about."

As for Girl Jordan herself, she and Lily were together, still recovering from the toil that odd form took on them.

"Looks like we came out of that okay."

"Yeah, we did."

Lily frowned and lowered her head.

"Although, more than that weird form we took when we grabbed hands, I wonder what happened to Lucy and Lynn..."

Girl Jordan turned back at the spot where the barrier was.

"Especially the latter: Whether the zone was strong enough to knock, there's no telling if she'll go back to her base form, or if she'll turn into a True Eclipse."

And then, everybody saw the remains of the zone rustling and moving, with a pair of familiar faces coming out of the ground soon after: Lucy and Lynn.

But they weren't back into their Lux Aura forms; they were back in their civillian forms.

"Lucy! Lynn!"

The gothic girl flashed a smile while Lynn threw an angry look at Girl Jordan, before the duo wobbled and collapsed on the ground, causing everybody to gather around them.

And as that happened, Gemini, Divisu, and Leni watched the scene from afar on a rooftop, with the middle one feeling intrigued by the succession of events.

" _So, it seems that pulling an Eclipseception was a situation desperate enough to activate Lily and Girl Jordan's Twilight Aura forms..._ "

"Lucy and Lynn had an entire shadow zone collapse on top of them..." Leni remarked. "Are they going to be okay?"

" _Worry not, older sister, Lucy and Lynn are going to be just fine,_ " Divisu replied. " _What we should worry about is making sure we're ready when its time to continue with the script._ "

"Yeah, now that you mention it, why do we take so long breaks between everything that happens?" Leni inquired. "I mean, it's not like we're doing anything important during these breaks, why keep them up?"

Divisu turned to Leni.

" _Because the board doesn't like it when we work too fast, remember?_ "

Leni narrowed her eyes and nodded as Divisu turned back to the scene.

" _Now then..._ "

The creature's eyes glew.

" _Time to create an adult Umbra Aura._ "


	17. Episode IX: Improvisation

**So, I managed to complete episode 9, so here's the next chapter! Not much else to say, really, for real this time.**

 **So, let's answer some reviews:**

 **1) Nobody245: Let's just hope that, if we do see more eclipses, that there will be some light left to see where we're going. XD**

 **2) animehero1000:**

 *** It's okay, we have reserves!**

 *** Is that a Pokemon reference? I don't remember that episode...**

 *** Some Lux would also be helpful.**

 *** ...What?**

 **And now, to the chapter!**

* * *

A month had passed since the events of Lucy's Eclipse had transpired. Both Lucy and Lynn had recovered from their collapse, and the Loud siblings had managed to train and grow a bit stronger, especially since Lucy actually spilled the beans about what Leni told her with the verbal tics.

And for a certain trio watching from far away, that of Leni, Gemini/Lincoln, and Divisu/Lisa, they, or at least the first two, couldn't tell what was more exasperating:

The fact that so many things happened out of their reach during a month, or the fact that, by contractual obligation, they were forced to do nothing about it.

Although in Leni's case, she was willing to admit her "mistake" of teaching Lucy how to get stronger.

 _So, not only did they manage to find out not all Eclipses are bound to be mindless destruction machines, but now they have gained the ability to take out their verbal tics in order to grow stronger,_ Divisu remarked. _I believe that's the signal that we need to create an adult Umbra Aura._

Leni rolled her eyes. "About, like, time."

 _Perhaps, but you're forgetting one little thing, Lisa,_ Gemini spoke as he walked up to his fellow creature. _All this time, we never once discussed which adult we're going to turn into an Umbra Aura._

"And before you throw the suggestion around, we're not going to try to use Flip as a test subject again," Leni stated. "His Shadow was incredibly weak, so his Eclipse totes wouldn't last long enough to become a threat."

 _I've kept that in mind, and in truth, there's one place we have to go in order to create the Umbra Aura,_ Divisu replied as they turned to face the horizon. _And that place is none other than the building that used to be our mediocre education center, Royal Woods School._

Before Gemini or Leni could ask what she meant by this, Divisu turned into a dark cloud and flew towards the building itself, leaving Leni and especially Gemini to fear for the worst.

 _Leni, if Lisa wants to head to the Royal Woods School in order to create an adult Umbra Aura, do you think she's going to try and turn Mrs. Johnson into one?_

"Mrs. Johnson's already a Lux Aura thanks to, like, bonding with you, and while Lisa might be careless when it comes to experiments, I don't think even _she_ would try to risk giving umbra energy to a Lux Aura," Leni replied as she walked over to Gemini's side. "No, I think she'll totes try to find an adult foolish enough to bond with her instead."

 _She's going to have trouble, then, 'cause I already told Mrs. Johnson and her companions to be wary of her,_ " Gemini replied, lowering his head. " _I also told them how she looked, so even if she assumes my form, they should be wary of her anyway._

Leni rolled her eyes. "Good, you finally made a good decision."

Gemini lowered his head sadly, and Leni hastily added:

"Don't get me wrong, Lincoln, I hate what you did, but I don't, like, hate you as a whole: Whether person or demonic plushie."

The fashionista frowned.

"If anything, I hold more hatred towards _myself_ than I do towards _you_."

Gemini faced Leni.

"It was my decision to snoop around with Great Grandma Harriet's spellbook to create the plushies that lead you and Lisa "And it was also my decision to keep you and Lisa's current situation a secret from the family that lead us to becoming the bad guys."

 _Don't put all the blame on yourself, Leni,_ Gemini looked back at the ground. _After all, it was Lisa and I who created the script we're following right now._

"Right, the script..."

Leni lowered her eyelids, and faced the creature with a raised eyebrow.

"Now that you mention it, what am I supposed to do now?"

Gemini reached for his back and took out the script itself: Which was basically an encyclopedia.

Several minutes passed as he searched for the page detailing the current events, with the passage of time quickly getting on his nerves.

 _Gosh dang it, why did Lisa insist to use an overly complicated prose to write this!?_

Eventually, he found the page detailing the events that were happening right now.

 _Okay, here we go: According to the script, Lisa goes to the school to try and find somebody who'll bond with her and become an Umbra Aura, while you Leni..._

Gemini looked closer at the script.

"What's wrong?"

 _Lisa's stupidly detailed prose makes it hard for me to figure out what's this supposed to mean._

"Let me take a look."

Leni grabbed the script, and squinted her eyes as she looked at her part.

"Okay, so, this says that I, like, have to stay in the background and wait for the Umbra Aura to be made."

 _You can understand what Lisa's prose is trying to say?!_

"It's not too difficult if you ignore the big, long words Lisa clearly added just to make it sound smarter," Leni replied as she handed the script back. "As for you, it says you're more or less going to do the same as me, only you'll also try to convince some random Lux Auras to join our side."

Gemini sighed, despite his mouth not even opening.

 _I guess that's what I'm going to do now... I'd ask you to wish me good luck, but-_

"Lincoln."

Gemini faced Leni, who looked at him with a reassuring smile.

"Do you want me to wish you good luck, or do you want Lady Luck to smile upon you? They may sound the same, but they're totes different."

 _I... don't know... I don't think I can tell the difference between those two options..._

Leni's smile turned into a frown.

"That's a shame, it really is."

Then, she crouched down and brushed the creature's hair.

"But I'm sure I can trust you to make the right decision regardless."

With her mind spoken, Leni went ahead to prepare herself for her time in the sidelines, while Gemini prepared himself mentally to do his part of the script.

 ** _Royal Woods School..._**

Divisu entered the building through the door as an immaterial cloud, before morphing back into their quadrupedal form to witness the utterly empty hallways of the school.

Maybe it was a day off, maybe the students had just finished classes, or maybe it was still early and they wouldn't come for class until a couple hours later.

One thing was perfectly clear: Divisu was alone with whatever poor sap she chose to corrupt.

 _Perfect, seems I don't have to worry about anybody in this school recognizing me. Time to head to the teacher's lounge and see which fool to corrupt into an Umbra Aura._

She took a couple steps before a thought caught her attention.

 _Should I try creating an Umbra Squire? Lincoln already made sure Lux Squires can be created, so..._

She shook her head.

 _That's besides the focus, I need to create an Umbra Aura before anything else happens._

Divisu ran straight for the teacher's lounge, and once at the door, she morphed into an immaterial form and slid right into it, returning to her material, plushie form as she looked at her surroundings.

There wasn't anybody around.

 _Hmm, how strange, I figured that at least some teachers would've remained behind to check on... I don't know, something._

Just then, the door busted open and Divisu was sent flying off into a desk, with the person who opened it barging in soon after.

This person was none other than Teri, who scanned the room with a worried expression as Divisu stood up and noticed her person.

 _Huh, looks like I just had to wait for someone to appear. Greetings, adult woman-_

However, Teri barely paid attention to Divisu as she walked out of the room, now carrying a purse with her.

"Thank goodness I remembered to come back and get my purse," Teri said to herself as she walked to the exit. "I swear, if I had left it for the third time this month, my-"

 _Hey!_

The woman stopped, looked around... and continued walking when she failed to find Divisu, who stood right behind her.

 _Hey woman! Look down!_

Teri stopped once more and looked down as requested, this time successfully spotting Divisu.

She seemed rather... nonplussed about the sight.

"Oh hey, a black little furry creature. Are you a cat? You're a cat, right?"

 _What I'm supposed to be is irrelevant compared to what I'm here for! I'm a magical creature from another world, one who's willing to give you magical powers in exchange for your cooperation._

It was at this point Teri grew suspicious.

"Do you give powers in a similar manner to that Gemini creature I've heard about?"

Divisu chuckled. _I guess you could say that._

And it was right then and there that Teri realized what was going on.

"You're Divisu, aren't you? The creature the Gemini creature warned us about a long time ago."

Divisu looked elsewhere and spat... somehow.

 _So he followed the original draft rather than the revised version..._

The creature sighed and looked at Teri, the woman currently throwing a stern glare at her..

 _Well, listen up, I'm pretty sure that guy's word is enough for you to distrust me, but think about this for a second: I want to give you power that will help you make a difference in the world._

Teri rolled her eyes.

"And what makes you think I'll fall for that trick? I know who you are, what you plan to do, and what will happen to me if I go along with it."

The woman continued walking, doing so past the creature as they nonchalantly asked a simple question.

 _Do you really know?_

Teri rolled her eyes and continued to walk, prompting Divisu to follow her slowly. Then as she began power walking, Divisu started moving faster.

Eventually, once she reached the entrance and literally sprang from her spot, Divisu morphed into her black cloud as Teri started running as fast as she could, the dark cloud wasting no time in giving her chase...

 ** _Meanwhile, with Gemini..._**

The white furry plushie stood on top of a bench, took a deep breath, and sounded rather exasperated as he explained himself.

 _Okay, so, hi, name's Gemini just in case you forgot. I'm the bond entity that turned you into a Lux Aura, and now I'm here to ask you to come with me. Something big's going to happen at the end of the year, it's going to potentially ruin everyone's Christmas, yadda yadda yadda. Bottom line is, despite having several dozen Lux Auras in the vicinity, they all need to be powered even further in order to be able to take down this huge threat, so, could you please come with me?_

The aura he was talking with turned out to be Darcy, who tilted her head as she chirped.

"You're rather cute!"

 _Yeah, this is totally a lost cause._

Darcy frowned. "Is something wrong?"

 _There is something wrong, but it's nothing related to you, don't worry._

Gemini sighed and looked at the skies.

 _It's just that so much stuff has happened since this entire deal with the Shadows and Eclipses began, I'm... honestly feeling a little exhausted._

Then, the creature lowered their head.

 _First I bond with several dozen Lux Auras, as Divisu told me, then Divisu goes ahead creates the first Eclipse. Afterwards, a lot of other stuff happens before she and I are taken to the laboratory, where we reveal our true nature, the lab's true form, kinda reveal our plan, and in the end have to go into hiding because if we ever show up again after what was revealed, our siblings are going to destroy us in every way possible, which won't happen because thanks to dark magical nonsense our bodies not only regenerate from every injury, but can contort into horrifying forms!_

Once he finished with his not-so-little rant, Darcy, being Darcy, had this to say:

"You sure know a lot of big words. You kinda remind me of my friend Lisa."

This caused Gemini to realize who he was talking with.

"Wait, were you friends with someone called Lisa Loud?"

Darcy nodded. "Lisa and I are the bestest of friends! Although, I haven't seen her since the mean black blobs attacked."

Darcy frowned and lowered her head.

"I just hope she's doing okay: I'd love nothing more than to have my cookie buddy back with me."

It was then that Gemini got an idea: Even if Lisa was willing to do a lot of questionable things, if her relationship with Darcy meant anything to her, she'd do anything to make her happy.

And maybe, just maybe, she was the key to give her second thoughts.

 _Listen, I'm sorry that I have to cut our conversation short, but I need to go find a certain someone. For the sake of Royal Woods!_

Gemini jumped off the bench and ran away, while Darcy waved goodbye.

"Goodbye and good luck, white dog-cat!"

 ** _The Person in Question..._**

Clyde sat on a bench, resting his cheek on one of his hands as he looked at his palm, from where he summoned his strings as he mused to himself.

"To think I ended up getting this powers just as a test, rather than any meaningful indication that I would be useful."

Then, he undid the strings as he looked at his palm incredulously.

"And besides, why give me strings of all things? I could understand if these things could turn into a weapon, or shield, or anything else, but they're just strings that come out of my palm, nothing else!"

I didn't have much of a choice, okay?!

 _The boy turned around and saw none other than Gemini approaching him._

And unlike everybody else who'd meet the furry creature by now, he wasn't particularly angry to see him, just confused and upset.

 _Lisa was very demanding when she asked me to create a Lux Squire, and I thought that it would be for the best to give you a simple power. But that's besides the point now, I-_

"Wait, you've been using plurals whenever you've talked until now, why change it all of a sudden?"

Geminicoln lowered his head.

" _That was back when nobody knew what was really going on, back when there were several secrets being kept from you. Now, it seems that every so often a can of answers is opened to reveal the secrets, and since my identity was one of them, calling myself in the plural sense to anybody who was here to witness it just doesn't make sense anymore._ "

Geminicoln lifted his head.

" _And besides, even considering our current situation, we're still best friends, right? Or at least, we used to be? So, I feel like, if there's anybody that I can be just myself and not some kind of "hive mind" shared between me, Lisa, and Leni, then it's you._ "

Clyde raised an eyebrow. "Hive mind?"

The creature shrugged.

" _It's just us roleplaying that we share one mind, really._ "

The boy folded his arms and narrowed his eyes.

"Okay, with all this in mind, though, why should I listen to you? How can I be certain that this isn't some kind of trap in order to transform me into an Umbra Squire, or whatever you have up your sleeve?"

Geminicoln looked at the sky in contemplation... with its face still frozen in a little smile.

" _I'll be honest with you Clyde: You were only meant to be a test in order to see if males could become Lux Beings, but now... I don't want to corrupt you into something different._ "

The creature turned back to the boy.

" _And besides, considering what Lisa's planning to do, we're going to need as many Lux Beings as possible, Aura and Squire alike._ "

Clyde's eyes widened at the implication.

" _Although, granted, you're still the only Lux Squire around, I haven't been having much luck getting other guys to go through the process-_ "

"Don't just suddenly go off-course like that, Lincoln!" Clyde exclaimed, getting the creature's attention. "What is Lisa planning to do!?"

"She's going to try and create an adult Umbra Aura in order to give Lily and the rest a harder challenge! And considering how strong Mrs. Johnson, you can only imagine how problematic an Umbra counterpart to her would be!"

"Then what are we waiting for?! Let's go!"

 ** _Back with Divisu and Teri..._**

The latter managed to outrun the former, getting enough of a headstart to reach some doors, barge inside, and lock them down. However, once she caught her breath, Teri very quickly discovered something upsetting.

She was back at the school.

"Oh great, that stupid black fart sent me running in circles!"

The black cloud suddenly appeared.

 _I heard that!_

Screaming at the sudden return of the creature, Teri swung her purse as soon as Divisu returned to her material form, sending her flying into a locker, causing it to spill open... Releasing Liam from it.

This caused the chase to stop for a brief moment as the boy stood up, looked at the duo with a confused look, then ran out through the entrance, leaving the pair to have a chat about the sudden event.

"Huh, so that's where he was."

 _A nerd stuck in a locker room? Classic bully tactic. Cliche, even._

Then she turned to Teri.

 _Now, back where we left off, I need you to turn into an aura in order to further the script._

"Again with the script, I already told you I don't care about it!" Teri snapped, stomping the ground. "I already know that doing anything you say will only need to headaches, so leave me alone!"

 _You want me to leave you alone with your uselessness?_

Teri's eyes widened.

 _Yes, I mean, remember: Shadows emerge from nowhere, Lux Auras have to be made by the dozens to combat them, most of them children, and then Eclipses come out soon later, proving to be an even bigger threat._

Divisu looked at the woman.

 _And did you do anything about it? No, you didn't. You just stood at the sidelines, and watched everything happen._

Divisu's eyes glew.

 _Don't you wish that would change?_

Teri grapped her arm and looked elsewhere.

"Well, I have been feeling rather upset that I don't have any way of contributing to the effort..."

She quickly shook her head.

"But I'm not a fool! Doing what you say will only bring trouble, so no matter what you do, I'm not joining you!"

Divisu sighed and shook her head, as her form began morphing into a slimy substance.

 _I didn't want to come up to this, but it seems that if I can't get you to cooperate by will._

Teri took a couple steps back as the plushie turned into a large, liquid canie with a wide grin.

 _I'll get you to do it by force!_

 ** _Back with Clyde and Gemini..._**

The duo kept running towards the school, the former now in his Lux Squire form while the latter desperately looked at his surroundings.

"Since when is Royal Woods such a big city?!" Clyde exclaimed. "I thought we would've reached the school by now!"

I would suggest this is the work of Lisa, but that's implying she has any more powers besides being a dark evil plushie.

Eventually, the pair reached the school, but not before a pillar of dark light emerged from the building, piercing the heavens as the duo thought they might've arrived too late.

However, they didn't let this stop them, and they ventured forward and into the school's hallways...

Only to find that yes, they were indeed too late.

Teri stood in place, looking around with golden glowing eyes as her suit was replaced by a black, full bodysuit with golden highlights.

"Wow, it's been so long since I had a mouth to speak with! Although, I would've vastly preferred a mouth that was attached to a more youthful body."

And then, the entity turned to look at the horrified Clyde and Gemini.

 _Lisa, you madwoman, what have you done!?_

The entity smirked.

"We worked on the script for so long, I'm not letting anybody but the executives change my vision for the project. And even then, that same group barely does anything anyway! They look at it for a second, throw some money at us, and then lean back and chuckle as they benefit from our hard work!"

Clyde and Gemini exchanged looks as the being continued.

"Instead of doing their own dirty business themselves, they take our ideas and trick us into making it a reality, telling us they'll give us a share of the profit when the only people who get the dang profit are them!"

"Um, we're still talking about your plan to destroy Royal Woods, right?" Clyde inquired.

The entity narrowed her glowing eyes and clenched her fists.

"Forget about Royal Woods! About Leni, about this magical girl idea, and about Dawning Dusk!"

She aimed one of her palms at the ceiling and shot an energy blast at it, before she levitated upwards, gaining a dark aura.

"Now that I have this power at my middle-aged fingertips, I'm going to force them to give us the profit we deserve!"

The creature cackled as she prepared to fly out and towards the group she spoke of, only for Clyde to wrap his strings around her legs.

Not only that, but as soon as Teri tried to fly away, Clyde managed to hold her back somewhat.

Something which quickly got on her nerves.

"If I must drag you with me, so be it!"

Teri flew away, dragging Clyde with her as Gemini stood back, before he ran away in shock.

 _I must get to Leni, and fast!_

 ** _Speaking of Leni..._**

The teenager rested on the ground, arms behind her head as she took the chance to relax and count the stars. It wasn't very often she didn't have to deal with Lisa's obstructive script, after all.

"Okay, let's see, I think there's saggitarius... close to him is pisces... and there's capricorn behind the flying woman..."

It wasn't long before she realized what she said.

"Hold it, flying woman?!"

Then she took a closer look.

"Wait, is that Clyde?!"

With the boy's ensuing scream reminding the teenager that he was in trouble, Leni wrapped Teri's legs and pulled her to the ground, helping Clyde get off in the process.

"Okay, I think it's time to explain a couple things," Leni remarked as the boy dusted himself. "What the heck is going on!?"

Clyde took a deep breath.

"I was minding my own business, being all contemplative, when Gemini appeared to me and asked me to help him stop Divisu from creating an adult Umbra Aura. Following so far?"

Leni smiled. "So, he did do the right thing after all."

One confused look later, Clyde chose to continue.

"We ran to the school, where she was going to create the aura, but we arrived too late as she... Well, I don't know how she did it, but she took control over a woman's body and turned her into an Umbra Aura by force."

Leni thusly glanced at Teri, who dusted herself as she stood up.

"So that's why she doesn't feel exactly right."

Then, Teri snapped at Leni and Clyde, causing the duo to take a battle stance as Gemini quickly arrived.

 _Clyde! Leni!_

"Lincoln!" Clyde exclaimed as the creature ran to his side. "You're going to help us with Divisu and Teri?!"

"Of course he is," Leni remarked with a sly smile. "After all, we need a distraction."

One angry look from Clyde was all it took to make Leni hastily add.

"Okay, but you have to admit, we need a distraction regardless."

And then an energy blast from Teri caused the trio to split up, Clyde and Gemini reuniting while Leni landed near a tree, and immediately wrapped her strings around its trunk, before she ripped it off the ground and launched it straight at Teri.

The woman clenched her fist and punched the trunk in two, following it by dashing towards Leni.

And as the duo fought, Clyde got prepared to summon his strings.

 _Clyde, wait! Don't do something hasty!_

"Well, I can't do nothing either! Besides, who knows how long Leni's going to be able to fight that woman!"

 _You really care about Leni after how she tried to hurt you?_

"Don't you?! I mean, you're her brother!"

 _I know, and I do worry for her, but maybe we need to plan this out._

Clyde raised an eyebrow.

 _I have a plan._

And as the duo seemingly talked about that, Leni continued to fight the Teri-Divisu... fusion? Combination? Whatever it was, to a somewhat even standstill.

"You know, this might be a bad time to bring it up," Leni remarked, dodging Teri-Divisu's punches. "But last time I faced a creature similar to you, I got my butt seriously kicked."

Then Leni threw a kick, and the woman easily caught it.

"Yes, I know that Leni, I was there, remember?"

"Wait, am I talking with Lisasu? Sorry, I thought the woman was in charge when I said that."

"No, I think she fainted a while ago. Might've been the stress of getting possessed."

"Huh, I guess that's to be expe-"

Leni was promptly lifted and spun around before Teri-Divisu threw her into a tree, which Leni turned into a sentient one with her strings to catch her before she crashed into it.

Once put down, Leni motioned the tree guard to attack Teri-Divisu, who smirked before her eyes glew and unleashed a yellow energy beam that evaporated the tree guard, and nearly did the same to Leni before she dodged it.

"Whoa, super strength and eye beams? I'm starting to get the feeling you're cheating, Lisa!"

Teri-Divisu then charged an energy ball, which she prepared to launch before Leni grabbed it with her strings and threw it in the air.

"Okay, you're definitely cheating now!"

She then wrapped the woman in her strings and threw her into the energy ball, creating an explosion that stunned her, giving Leni enough time to reunite with Clyde.

"Look, Clyde, I know we're not on good terms, but it seems we'll only be able to deal with her if we work together."

"Yes, I know that," the boy responded. "In fact, I have an idea on how we can deal with her together!"

Leni crouched down and Clyde whispered his plan in her ear.

And just in time too, since Teri-Divisu came out of the smoke cloud shooting eye beams at the duo, prompting them to dodge and wrap some trees with their strings. They then threw them at

"Ha! If that's all you can do, then-!"

And then came another couple of trees.

And another pair, and yet another pair.

Until finally, Clyde wrapped the bunch of trees and threw them into the ground, allowing Leni to follow by grabbing and throwing down a giant boulder, followed by an explosion.

Because obviously the only way to end such a bizarre attack is with an explosion.

"W-Was that enough?" Clyde asked as he caught his breath. "Did we manage to deal with the woman?"

"Okay, Clyde, first of all, the woman has a name right? It's "Teri-Divisu" for now, but I'm sure its just Teri without Lisa inside her," Leni replied, dusting herself. "Secondly, don't you watch superhero shows? The main villain is never beaten that easily!"

"I thought this entire fiasco was based around magical girls, why do you bring up superheroes?"

"They're the same thing!"

Soon after that declaration, Teri-Divisu emerged from the rubble, no doubt angered at the insinuation that magical girls and superheroes were the same thing.

That, or just to prove it didn't work at all, either reason was fine.

"Alright, it was fun while it lasted, but I have a script to follow: So, first I'll give Lily and Girl Jordan a wake up call they'll never forget."

Teri-Divisu levitated.

"And then, the group is next!"

The combination-possession-fusion-whatever chuckled maliciously as she flew away, leaving the trio to catch their breath.

"Well, looks like your plan failed to stop them," Leni said as she put a hand on Clyde's hair and brushed it. "Don't feel bad about it, sometimes you just can't-"

"Oh no, that wasn't our plan," Clyde quickly answered. "That was just a distraction."

Hearing that, it wasn't long before the teenager brought up the logical question.

"If that wasn't your plan, then what was it?"

Clyde turned to Gemini, who had a phone on his back as he walked to the duo, which Clyde grabbed as he gave his answer.

 _Call for backup._

Then Gemini dematerialized the phone back into light.

 _By the way, Clyde, as things are bound to become more intense, there's something I want to give you._

Clyde raised an eyebrow while Leni folded her arms.

The creature responded by glowing his eyes before shooting a beam at the sky, with the beam stopping at a point and morphing into the shspe of a sword.

A white sword whose blade was made of pure energy, and whose handle was silver and spades-shaped.

 _I dub this the spadesword, it'll help you make more of a difference in the upcoming battles._

"Okay, this doesn't really make up for the plans you made, but thanks I guess," Clyde spoke as he received the sword.

 _The weapon technically isn't complete, though: I wanted to make a twilight spadesword, but I need both light and dark matter to do so. And, obviously, I only have light matter._

Leni promptly put a hand on Clyde's shoulder.

"If that's the case, then I assume you already know what to do, Clyde?"

The boy faced the sword, and smiled with confidence.

"Yes, yes I do."


	18. Episode IX: Realization

**Okay, so you're probably wondering why I'm updating yet again, when I did it yesterday. Well, I want to do an experiment; every other chapter has been reviewed a week apart from each other, before I took forever to finish this episode anyway.**

 **And as you can imagine, this story might be suffering from the... what magical girl show could work as an analogy?**

 **Okay, let's try Yuuki Yuna is a Hero, a much better story than this one but one that suffers the same problem: it started strong, but now it's turning into a shell of its former self.**

 **And I'm suffering it too if that's the best comparison I can think of.**

 **So anyway, let's answer some reviews:**

 **1) Nobody245: We'll see about that...**

 **2) ChernoMan:**

 *** Well, that's a good sign.**

 *** And I'm sorry about that, I really. If there was a much more competent writer to do this story justice, I'd hand it to him right away.**

 *** Don't tell me this requires a reboot too, please.**

 *** ...**

 *** ...**

 *** I guess that makes sense.**

 *** I'm starting to lose my grip.**

 **And now, to finish the whole episode, as it should be.**

* * *

At Girl Jordan and her group's treehouse, the quartet were playing cards when the door was knocked, sending a shiver down their spines.

They looked at their cubes, completely darkened by the black matter, and clutched them as Girl Jordan stood up and walked to the door.

"Who's there?"

"Lucy, Lynn, and Lily Loud," a deadpan voice answered.

The girl narrowed her eyes, but eventually opened the door... After transforming.

Right outside were the trio themselves: Lynn and Lucy, with Lily being carried by the latter.

They were also not in their Lux Aura forms, but their civillian ones, which Girl Jordan only noticed after aiming and shooting an arrow straight at Lynn, who jumped away in time.

"Oh, so, you're not here to fight?" Girl Jordan inquired, lowering her bow.

Lynn narrowed her eyes. "If a fight is what you want-"

The jock paused as she felt a pair of cold, disapproving glares looking at her. Glares that came from none other than Lucy and Lily themselves.

Jordan's group were also glaring at her, but they were puny compared to her sisters' glares.

"You're gonna have to look elsewhere. We're just here to talk."

Lucy and Lily smiled and Girl Jordan turned back into her civillian form.

"Okay, but how did you find this place? We haven't told anybody about this treehouse's existence."

"Yeah, at the point where we are now, it'd be... Suicidal, to do that," Joy remarked, Mollie and Kat nodding in agreement.

"Lily wanted to see you," Lucy answered, lifting the baby to Girl Jordan's face. "So we three searched for you for a while until we found this treehouse in the middle of the trees."

"Huh, I guess a treehouse would stand out in the middle of ordinary trees," Mollie spoke as if this was some major revelation. "Who would've thought, huh?"

Everybody but Mollie raised their hands.

"Point taken."

"Okay, so, you say you came here because Lily wanted to see me," Girl Jordan spoke as she looked at her surroundings. "So, where is she, exactly?"

"Notice the baby I'm holding in my arms," Lucy spoke, her arms trembling as she hastily added. "Arms that are going to give out if somebody doesn't grab her right now!"

Seeing the goth in clear exhaustion, Girl Jordan quickly grabbed the baby, and as Lucy caught her breath, the preteen and the baby looked at each other for a moment before she suddenly realized...

"This is Lily?!"

Lily clapped and chuckled, causing Girl Jordan to drop her as she tried to process what this meant.

Luckily, Joy leaped and grabbed Lily before she hit the ground.

"You know, the idea of grabbing the baby is not that you drop her soon after!"

"B-But, I don't understand!" Girl Jordan scratched her head. 'The Lily I know is about the size of the jock over here: What happened that reduced her to the size of a baby?!"

"Girl Jordan, Lily is a baby; It's just that, when she transforms into a Lux Aura, her body ages up to between preteen and teen," Lynn explained as she walked to the archer's side. "We assume the reason that happens is because, while the idea of a crime-fighting baby is hilarious, it's not very practical when fighting against the Shadows or Eclipses."

Girl Jordan looked back at Lily, who nodded to more or less tell her Lynn was right.

And just before she could process what this meant, Lynn put a hand on her shoulder and said,

"By the way, we need to talk."

Girl Jordan raised a concerned eyebrow.

 ** _Back with Lucy and the Judgement Trio..._**

"And then I, in my True Eclipse form, collapsed the entire shadow zone on top of us!"

The trio's eyes widened with amazement.

"Wow, I never thought I'd hear about an eclipse fighting another eclipse!" Mollie remarked. "I mean, those creatures don't seem like the kind to attack each other."

"But it must've been rather tough, too," Kat spoke. "After all, you had to fight your sister."

"Well, if I can be honest with you, I kinda always wanted to give Lynn a piece of my mind, give her a little scolding and punishment for being so stubborn," Lucy sighed. "I would've liked it better if the situation was different, though."

Kat raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Think of it like this: you have this sibling, who's got a bit of a stubborn edge to them. You live with them, spend almost most of your time with them, and as such, you end up having a good look at their stubborness. So much so you sometimes want to hit them and tell them "hey, stop being so dang stubborn, will you?" so they get the idea, but you let them go on because you wouldn't be able to get away with it."

The judgement trio exchanged looks.

"Hey, do you know how to get rid of your tics to grow stronger?"

The trio's confused expressions said it all.

"Well, let me teach you how to do it..."

 _ **Back with Lynn and Girl Jordan...**_

The pair were outside at the front "yard" of the treehouse, looking at the stars.

"Listen, you may find this hard to believe, but... I haven't been the most nuanced person in my group lately."

"I find that completely believable," Girl Jordan bluntly responded. "I mean even when we first met, the first thing that came to mind when I saw you was that you were the kind to attack first, ask questions later."

A vein nearly burst in Lynn's forehead, but she quickly calmed herself down.

"What I'm trying to get at is, I was quite angry at the fact you and Lily seem to have some sort of connection."

Girl Jordan raised an eyebrow. "You were jealous?"

"Infuriated, maybe even offended: I've been teaching and protecting Lily with the Shadows and their cores, and then you appear and become her best friend."

"I wouldn't say we're _that_ close."

Lynn rolled her eyes. "I'm also not the most well-liked by my sisters."

Girl Jordan raised an eyebrow, her interest piqued.

"Lola thinks I'm too dirty, Lana doesn't have as much energy as I do, Luan would rather make joked, Luna rarely listens to me, Lori is too busy and Leni..."

Remembering her betrayal, Lynn took a deep breath and stood up.

"...Even if we got along before, I wouldn't see that as something to be proud of right now."

Girl Jordan nodded in agreement. "I get what you mean."

The wind began blowing, sending shivers down Lynn's spine as the jock faced Girl Jordan and spoke.

"Look, I don't exactly trust or like you, and you share the sentiment. Heck, maybe even Lily doesn't trust me after I tried to beat her up-"

Girl Jordan stood up. "You did what!?"

"I thought she was being mind-controlling back then: Again, I wasn't thinking logically back then. Anyway, we both do like Lily at least, so if only for her sake."

Lynn extended her hand forward.

"Let's just... Make amends and try to work together."

Girl Jordan looked at the hand with confusion.

"You'd be willing to work with an Umbra Aura?"

Lynn shrugged.

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"Maybe me!"

The duo turned around and saw Teri-Divisu standing on a tree branch, and sporting a terrifying look.

Just as she prepared to lunge at the duo, however, Lynn summoned and shot her gauntlet at her, stunning her long enough to allow the pair to run inside and block the door with their bodies.

Which somehow seemed to be enough to keep the possessed woman out.

"Is she one of your friends?!"

"Right, of course, I obviously have a friend that's four times my age and would attack me without question!"

And then they realized Lucy, Lily, and the judgement trio were looking at them.

"There's an Umbra Aura outside who's trying to kill us."

The girls gasped, exchanged nods, and quickly transformed before they jumped out of the treehouse, kicking Teri-Divisu down in the process.

Once she stood back up, Teri-Divisu watched as both Umbra and Lux Auras got ready to fight against her, summoning their weapons and glaring at her together.

Teri-Divisu smirked with confidence.

"An adult Umbra Aura?!" Lily exclaimed.

"I thought Mrs. Johnson was the only adult Aura in the vicinity!" Girl Jordan remarked.

"Well, if you want to get real technical, Johnson's the only adult Lux Aura," Teri-Divisu responded before she charged an energy sphere. "Now, an adult Umbra Aura? That's quite different!"

Just as the sphere grew, Girl Jordan quickly aimed her finger gun at it and shot, somehow causing it to explode.

The ensuing smoke cloud covered Teri-Divisu's upper body, allowing the judgement trio to leap in and attack the woman.

"That certainly came in handy," Lucy remarked.

"I thought you could only do that in your Umbra Aura form!" Lily spoke as she faced Girl Jordan.

"Well, either I can do it regardless of form, or I found a loophole by accident!" Girl Jordan answered, blowing the smoke coming out of her fingertips. "However, we shouldn't celebrate just yet: My partners are good as a distraction but don't have the best track record in finishing the job."

The cloud of violence coming from the quartet's fight stopped briefly, revealing an exasperated Teri-Divisu in the middle of a beating by the judgement trio, who exclaimed "We heard that!" before resuming the fight and the cloud.

"Eitherway, we have to think of something else," Girl Jordan turned to Lucy and Lynn. "Don't either of you have any backup plans, or combination attacks you could do?"

"My weapons are gauntlets, and Lucy's weapon is a scythe," Lynn answered. "I don't see how we'd be able to combine them, let alone make a combination attack out of them."

Just then, Lily got an idea and snapped her fingers.

"Why don't you try doing a Twilight form attack?!"

Girl Jordan smiled and nodded, while Lucy and Lynn raised an eyebrow.

"Just grabbing hands with Girl Jordan is enough to achieve that level of power. Surely you guys can do the same!"

"And if that's not enough motivation," Girl Jordan extended her hand towards Lynn. "Think of this as a test, to see whether you're really willing to work with us or not."

Lynn glanced at the hand, then looked at her sisters: Lily gave her a thumbs up, while Lucy shrugged, just as unsure of anything as Lynn.

"Ugh, well, let's give it a shot."

Just then, the judgement trio were taken out of the fight by Teri-Divisu, with them landing next to Lucy and Lily just as a bright light covered Lynn and Girl Jordan, signifying their transformation into twilight auras.

This was followed by Lynn's gauntlets and Girl Jordan's arrows merging into... arrows with fists for blades?

"Seriously?" Lynn growled as the arrows fell on Girl Jordan. "So not only do we get tackier outfits, but an utterly ridiculous weapon?!"

Just then, Teri-Divisu lunged straight for the team, prompting Girl Jordan to desperately shoot the arrow-fist at her.

In doing this, the arrow was easily dodged by Teri-Divisu, at least before its fingers split from the gauntlet, which blew up to hide the incoming, smaller fist-arrows.

Teri-Divisu dodged them again, only for each individual fist-arrow's fingers to fall off, and explode, with dozens of arrows bombarding the corrupted individual, ending in a large explosion.

This, of course, came with the end of Girl Jordan and Lynn's time as twilight auras, opening a window for Teri-Divisu to attack them.

Or so she thought.

Lucy and Mollie, both having wings, held a giant scythe together, which they swung in unison into the ground, the blade causing the ground to split open and summon winged ghost horses to stampede the woman.

However, she dodged most of them, except for the final one, who impaled her with its horn before throwing her towards Lynn, who went on to punch her hard enough to send her crashing into a rock.

With that done, both Lucy and Mollie turned back to normal as the team looked at the woman with concerned looks.

"Okay, I think Lucy and Mollie's combo did some damage, but I don't think it did enough," Lily remarked, gripping her mace. "Is there any other combination we could do to keep it up?"

"Even if we could do several combinations in a row, and all of them had functional weapons, I don't think we'd make a lot of progress in the long run," Girl Jordan stated, shaking her head. "What we need is to get an adult lux aura to fight her!"

Teri-Divisu chuckled.

"Right, as if you'd be able to find any adult lux auras at this hour, if at all!"

The team raised an eyebrow, just in time for Teri-Divisu to give them some bad news.

"There's only one case of an adult lux aura ever being created: that is Mrs. Johnson. Every other lux aura in Royal Woods is either a child or a teenager, who don't possess enough power to come close to challenging an adult umbra aura like this one!"

"Now that she mentions that," Kat remarked. "I've never seen any adult lux auras while patroling."

"The only one I've ever seen has been Mrs. Johnson..." Lily frowned. "Which means we don't have many options to call for help."

"And you don't even have the chance to call for help!" Teri-Divisu boasted. "Because there's no way I'm letting you do something like that, let alone there being anything who can hurt this form!"

Teri-Divisu proudly spread her arms.

"And if I'm wrong, let one such lux aura punch me in the face!"

As if on cue, an adult lux aura came out of nowhere and... kicked her right in the face, sending her crashing into another trees.

There was a lot of crashing happening, it seems.

"Okay, I said _punch_ , not _kick_ , but I guess the point's taken regardless," Teri-Divisu sternly said as she stood up and dusted herself. "Now then, Mrs. Johnson-"

"Yeah, I'm afraid you're a little mistaken."

The adult lux aura walked forward a little bit, revealing herself to be Mrs. Shrinivas.

"Mrs. Johnson's going to take a little bit longer to get here."

Everybody gasped.

"Shrinivas!?" Teri-Divisu exclaimed. "What are you doing here?! Why are you a lux aura!? When did that happen!?"

"You didn't think Gemini wasn't doing anything during the month-long hiatus while you were waiting to take action, right?" Shrinivas boldly revealed. "The world doesn't stop just because you want to wait 'till the right moment."

Teri-Divisu gritted her teeth.

"I'll be sure to kick that jerk's butt when I get the chance!"

She turned back to Shrinivas.

"But first, I'm going to teach everyone a lesson: just because there's a lux aura that can handle this body, doesn't mean that it'll guarantee a victory!"

Teri-Divisu's eyes glew and shot a beam at Shrinivas, who put her arm forward and generated a shield that not only blocked the beam, but absorbed it, allowing her to throw it right back at the possessed woman once she stopped in confusion.

"Wait a minute, you can summon a shield?! How is that possible!? Johnson doesn't have a weapon!"

"Oh no, she does have one, it's just a lot more subtle than you think it is," Shrinivas answered with a confident smile. "And if this is enough to shock you, then you haven't seen anything, Lisa."

Teri-Divisu felt a chill go down her spine, while the team's eyes widened.

"Yes, I know the real identity of the creature possessing you, Teri. Just as how I know that the creature that creates the lux auras is actually Lincoln, Leni is part of this whole stuff, and what else? Oh right."

Shrinivas prepared to snap her fingers.

"A little friend would like to have a word with you."

*SNAP*

A ferocious roar was heard, and moments after Teri-Divisu turned around to see what made such roar, Trashy, now resembling a quadrupedal animal, tackled Teri-Divisu and threw her over to the woods, where they fought with her as Shrinivas ran up to the group.

"Are you girls okay?"

"Yeah, but now I have so many questions running through my head," Lily remarked. "For example, how did Trashy know to attack Teri-Divisu when you snapped your fingers?"

"Okay, besides being an utterly crazy sentence coming out of you," Girl Jordan spoke, "Of all the questions you _should_ be asking, that's the first one you think is worth asking first?!"

"Well, it's the first one that comes to mind, yes."

"And the easiest way to answer it is to say, that there's been a little bit more of a behind-the-scenes planning than you'll believe," Shrinivas answered. "Leni needed something to do while waiting, after all."

Lily smiled. "So, this is all Leni's plan?"

"As if she wasn't hard enough to read," Girl Jordan bemused.

Just then, Trashy's screams of agony were heard, prompting everyone to turn around and witness as Teri-Divisu shot an eye beam at him, disintegrating him while shedding tears.

"First you make a fun out of me, and then you force me to kill one of my own creations! That's low, even for you!"

"Hmph, says the one who orchestrated the rise of the Shadows."

Teri-Divisu turned, and what a surprise, Mrs. Johnson stood nearby, sporting a stern look, her arms folded behind her back.

"At least the creation of the Lux-Umbra System had the purpose of giving everyone in Royal Woods a better life!" the woman spat. "Forcing me to kill Trashy was not needed!"

"Lux-Umbra System?" Lily repeated.

Girl Jordan narrowed her eyes. "So that's what you call it?"

"Give everyone a better life, you say?" Mrs. Johnson scoffed. "Please, everyone now has to live in fear of the possibility of being attacked by the Shadows, or worse, by the possibility of an Eclipse emerging out of nowhere. How would you consider any of that an improvement?"

"Isn't it obvious? With the Lux and Umbra Auras, nobody has to feel left out, worthless, defenseless! Those that become

"And what about those that don't get to become auras, like the case with Dana?" Lily pointed out.

"Yeah! Becky became a Lux Aura while her friend didn't get anything for it!" Girl Jordan snapped. "It got the point where she became an Eclipse because she wanted to be special like her friend."

Girl Jordan pointed at Teri-Divisu.

"And I'm pretty sure we can all guess who's at fault for her transformation!"

Teri-Divisu lowered her head.

"Some sacrifices have to be made so the system can work-"

"Your "system" doesn't work whatsoever, Lisa," Mrs. Shrinivas stated. "The only thing you and Lincoln have done is give Royal Woods a set of supernatural powers to deal with!"

Teri-Divisu clenched her fists.

"Admit the fact that your give project is doing more harm than good, and help us put an end to it once and for all!"

Teri-Divisu powered up, yelling "no!" at the top of her lungs.

"I spent over a month trying to do everything in my power to make everything better! Lincoln and I did! You're all just being ungrateful jerks because you're not having the benefits right away!"

Teri-Divisu aimed her palms at the duo and shot a pair of energy beams at them; Mrs. Johnson jumped to dodge, and Shrinivas blocked and redirected it with her shield.

However, Teri-Divisu simply grabbed the beam, absorbed it into ther fists, and slammed them down on the ground just as Mrs. Johnson launched a dropkick towards her.

The energy from the beams landed on the ground and unleashed several of pillars of energy from underneath, forcing Johnson to jump away and dodge as the pillars seemed to chase after her, before stopping rather suddenly.

Following that, Teri-Divisu lunged at Johnson and threw a couple punches and kicks at Johnson, who simply dodged them until she blocked the last few strikes, keeping Teri-Divisu on a standstill.

"You know, Shrinivas told me that you actually have a super power, but nothing I've seen gives me an idea of what it could be. So, do you even have a superpower?"

"Hmph, can't you take a guess?"

Johnson smirked.

"It's super strength!"

Johnson headbutted Teri-Divisu, sending her flying straight through some trees with enough force to make the tree fly high into the air, before crashing on the ground, leaving a giant crater behind.

A crater that only became bigger as Teri-Divisu stood up and powered up once more.

"Shields, super strength, maces, bows and arrows, combination attacks! Everything is worthless! Even if you can hurt me, there's nothing you can do to beat me while I'm in this body!"

Teri-Divisu lunged at the team.

"Nothing!"

As if on cue, Clyde appeared out of nowhere and swung his light sword, causing a moderately sized cut in Teri-Divisu's arm.

A cut that was glowing white... and releasing steam...

"What... what is this?" Teri-Divisu exclaimed, sounding genuinely alarmed. "Why isn't it going away?!"

Clyde raised an eyebrow. "Do you have regenerative abilities?"

"Well, I, Divisu, do, but I don't think Teri herself does," Teri-Divisu responded, scratching the back of her head. "Even then, I expected my abilities to come with the package of possessing this woma-"

Teri-Divisu screamed as the cut became slightly longer, spreading up to the elbow.

"Clyde, what's happening?" Shrinivas asked.

"Long story short, I was knighted so Lincoln could give me this sword, to make fighting a little easier," Clyde explained with a smile. "According to him, this is a sword of pure light capable of severely damaging an Umbra Aura: any cut it does doesn't heal as long as the Umbra Aura remains in their aura form, and it will only spread until the aura is forcefully kicked out of the form."

Teri-Divisu gritted her teeth. "So, he decided to screw me over once again-"

The cut deepened even more, eventually forcing Divisu to come out of Teri from her mouth, materializing her form nearby as Shrinivas and Johnson went to check up on Teri.

"Teri, are you okay?!" Shrinivas asked.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Teri looked down, and lifted the necklace with a dark cube she had suddenly obtained.

"I don't remember putting this on, though."

"A dark cube," Mrs. Johnson remarked. "This must be the proof that Divisu transformed you into an umbra aura."

"Well, I don't want it," Teri scratched her chin. "Maybe I could get rid of it-"

"Don't!"

The women flinched as Clyde, Lily, and Girl Jordan ran up to them.

"Don't try to destroy the cube!"

"That thing absorbs all the pain you obtained during a fight in your umbra aura form!"

"If you destroy it, the pain accumulated in there will be transferred right back to you, knocking you out or even killing you!"

"Okay, alright, geez, I'll keep it!" Teri said, taking a step back. "Just one question: how do you know this?"

Lily frowned. "Experience."

Back with Divisu, the creature caught her breath as she stood up, only to find herself surrounded by the team, all sporting angry looks at her.

 _Right, so, you all got me cornered. Do you really think it's that easy!? Even with minor setbacks caused by Gemini-!_

 _Minor setbacks?_

A shadowy figure appeared on a tree branch, then jumped down to reveal themselves as Gemini.

 _I believe you'll find these setbacks aren't that minor if you keep tempting me, sister._

Divisu's eyes glew, and without even saying anything in response, she lunged at Gemini and the duo promptly disappeared.

"Great, they vanished just as they were about to beat the stuffing out of each other," Lynn said with disappointment.

"To be fair, that's the only thing they've done right at this point."

Recognizing the voice from where the sassy line came from, everybody turned around and saw none other than Leni standing nearby, arms folded behind her back, and with a little smile on her face.

"Vanishing and disappointing people, that is."

"Leni!" Lily exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!"

"I sensed a Twilight Aura, an adult one at that, coming into existence and I decided to give it a look myself."

Then, she tilted her head. "Anyway, did you miss me?"

The teenager jumped away as a furious Girl Jordan shot an arrow at her.

"Oh, I missed you alright, but don't worry: Next shot will hit the bull's eye!"

"Wait, Girl Jordan! Don't shoot her!" Lily remarked. "Maybe she's here not to destroy us, but to help us?"

Girl Jordan raised an eyebrow. "I don't know if it's grammer or the implication, but something about your statement just feels wrong."

"Believe it or not, Lily's right," Leni spoke as she calmly walked towards the duo. "I'm not here to fight you, but to ask for your help with something."

"Us? Help you?" Lynn asked. "Am I the only one who feels there's something fishy about this?"

Lucy quickly put her hand on Lynn's shoulder. "Nobody trusts Leni here, Lynn-"

"Not even me!" Leni chirped.

"But if she's not here to fight, we shouldn't give her a reason to do so. Let's hear what she has to say."

Still not entirely convinced, but still wanting to show she's changed, Lynn nodded and turned back to Leni as the teenager explained herself.

"You see, remember the little thing about the project that would, oh I don't know, destroy Royal Woods at the end of the year? Well, there might be a way to get rid of it before it can complete it's objective."

Then, Leni turned to Mrs. Johnson and Teri.

"And I'm going to need your help."

The women exchanged confused looks, while the rest grew concerned.

 _ **The Flying Laboratory...**_

At the entrance of the laboratory, a pair of strings attached themselves, and from there Leni, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Shrinivas, and Teri swung into the building.

"Why aren't the rest of the kids coming?" Mrs. Johnson inquired as Leni undid the strings. "I'm not saying I approve of them putting themselves in danger, but-"

"Let me be blunt with you: There's already way too many characters for me to keep track of, and I only wanted to bring the ones who're going to get any progress done," Leni sternly answered.

"That makes sense to me," Mrs. Shrinivas said.

"Why do you sound so upset?" Teri asked.

"Let's just say this isn't the first time I've been asked a character-related question," Leni took a deep breath. "And before you ask anything else, let's stay focused on the matter at hand."

Once finished, Leni walked to the women's side.

"Now, follow me, and I'll take you to the project's cocoon."

The trio followed Leni, and they remained silent until they finally arrived at the mentionted cocoon, which was nothing more than the project's tube encased in a crystalline... thing.

"Whatever's inside that thing must've gained sentience after reaching fifty percent progress, since that's when it was encased in crystal. And considering how Lincoln and Lisa have been busy lately, I don't think either of them did it."

Leni turned back to the women.

"Now, what I want you to do is simple: hold hands or do whatever you can to achieve the twilight aura form, and use every single trick in your arsenal to try and damage that thing."

"You want us to try break through that strange crystal-encased thing so we can destroy what's inside and save Royal Woods from destruction?" Teri asked, earning a simple nod from Leni. "Geez, no pressure on us, thank you."

Mrs. Johnson extended her hand toward Teri and sighed. "Let's get this over with."

Mrs. Shrinivas extended her hand as well, and Teri grabbed both hands, causing the trio to immediately transform into twilight auras.

They then exchanged looks and nods before they leaped straight towards the cocoon, throwing everything but the kitchen sink at it in an attempt to destroy it-

Actually, wait, Teri materialized a kitchen sink and threw it at the coccoon.

So everything _and_ the kitchen sink.

And as the adult twilight auras continued to bombard the cage with everything they could, Leni's glare slowly turned into a displeased, yet worried expression as one thing became clear to her:

The crystal wasn't cracking.

In fact, it looked like nothing had been attacking it for the past few minutes.

And with that, Mrs. Johnson and Teri landed by her side, quickly turning back to their aura, then their base forms.

"Dang it, we threw everything we had at it, and it didn't even get a scratch!" Mrs. Johnson stated.

"I can see that, Johnson!" Teri growled. "But still, how the heck did that thing not get even a single scratch on them?"

Leni walked closer to the cocoon, and touched the crystal cage.

"This doesn't feel like any natural gem or mineral known in the world... Lisa must've created a new element, impervious to all sorts of damage, so the project could control it and use it to protect itself."

Mrs. Johnson and Teri tilted their heads, prompting Leni to snap at them.

"I came up with that theory on the spot, okay?! Give me a break!"

"We... weren't questioning your line of logic," Mrs. Johnson replied.

Teri shrugged. "I kinda was."

Johnson threw a look at Teri.

"Well, whatever the case, it seems this thing, or at least the thing covering it, can't be destroyed by the powers of twilight auras."

"Adult twilight auras, at that," Teri looked back at the thing. "But if adult twilight auras can't destroy it, then what can?"

The women turned back to Leni, who lowered her head with a saddened expression.

 _ **Back Outside...**_

The girls and Clyde waited for the return of Leni and the women, who returned a couple minutes afterwards.

"You're back!" Lily chirped as she ran up to Leni. "How did it go?!"

Leni glanced at the women, and sadly answered.

"Lincoln and Lisa's project is covered in a protective, crystal cocoon of sorts. Teri, Mrs. Johnson, and Mrs. Shrinivas turned into twilight auras to try destroy it, but nothing they did worked."

"Didn't you do anything to help them?" Kat inquired.

"Please, Mrs. Johnson alone, in her Lux Aura form, is stronger than me!" Leni responded. "And all three of them were in a form stronger than even that! If the three of them at their strongest couldn't destroy it, what could I have done to contribute?"

Joy lowered her head. "That makes sense."

And so, everybody walked back home, with Lynn saying before she went with everyone else:

"Well, looks like no matter what, we'll be facing the end of Royal Woods near the end of the year."

Lily turned to Girl Jordan.

"What do we do now?"

Girl Jordan put a hand on Lily's shoulder.

"For now, we'll focus on getting stronger. After all, if we can't stop it from happening, we can at least get prepared for it."

With that said, everybody left, leaving Leni alone to look back at the flying laboratory with a look of clear exasperation.

" _Lincoln, Lisa, you really messed up this time._ "

 ** _Speaking of Them..._**

Geminicoln and Lisasu reappeared at another part of the forest, the moon shining nearby as Divisu took a couple of breaths, while Gemini looked rather calm.

 _First you flip flop with ideas, then you create a lux aura without my permission, and now you gave Clyde a sword capable of not only forcing Umbra Auras to turn back to their original form, but also kill me!_

 _Yeah, I'll admit, that wasn't exactly what I planned, but I needed to get you out of the body of Teri-_

Divisu stomped the ground.

 _Why now, of all times, do you have to act like a rebellious jerk!? After everything we did, all the resources we poured into our project, you want to make it all for naught!?_

 _What we're doing isn't right or correct in any way, Lisa! Just take a look at everything that's happened: a bunch of Shadows have given fear to people, the auras have to work to exhaustion to make sure the monsters we made don't arise again, and as if that wasn't enough, not only are there even bigger monsters to worry about, but two girls, an aura and an innocent one, have been hospitalized! If this keeps going, who knows what else could happen?!_

 _Why do we have to care about that?! Sure, some girls got hospitalized, that's bad, but what else do you expect when trying to recreate a magical girl environment?!_

 _Lisa, don't you see the bigger picture? If a pair of girls wound up hospitalized, who knows if other girls, lux or umbra auras, could wind up being killed!_

 _Admittedly, that's the worst case scenario. And besides, aren't you forgetting something? As long as our sisters are safe-_

 _Our sisters, our family, and even our friends are just as susceptible to everything as the other citizens of Royal Woods!_

Divisu took a couple steps back.

 _What... what are you saying!? They're not in any danger whatsoever! They're main characters! Nothing bad ever happens to main characters!_

 _If they really had that kind of protection, would it have been possible for Lucy to become an Eclipse?_

Divisu felt a shiver go down her spine, now finally realizing what this entailed.

 _If Lucy can become an Eclipse, then the rest of our sisters can turn into Eclipses._

Divisu lowered her head, and nodded.

 _And if the Lux Auras can be hospitalized or even killed, and our sisters are lux auras, doesn't that mean they can also be hospitalized or killed?_

Divisu shivered.

It was clear that the weight of everything was starting to take a toil on her, now the only thing left to do, was to hammer the final nail in the coffin.

 _You know, while trying to continue with my role in the script, I spoke with Darcy._

Divisu lifted her head.

She said she misses you, and she would love nothing more than to have her cookie buddy.

 _I'd love nothing more than to have her back too-_

 _Divisu gasped, realizing what she said._

And as Gemini looked at her with his frozen expression, Divisu shivered once again... and tears formed on her eyes.

 _Lincoln... what have I done?_

Gemini looked at the moon.

 _The real question we should be asking is..._

Divisu turned to look at the celestial object as well, as the duo finished the sentence together.

 _What have we done?_


	19. Episode X: Twilight

**So, episode 10 has been finished... both parts have been finished. So, I'll post the first part now, and let me know in the reviews if you wanna see the next part tomorrow as originally planned, or if I should do it weekly.**

 **Last time, with the whole "finish both parts and update them a day apart," that was kind of a brash decision of mine, so I want to try rectify it somehow. Unless you tell me otherwise, I'll keep the second half off until the next week, give me some time to work on the last two episodes.**

 **Because if those four chapters fail... I don't know, I'll quit loud house fanfics and go back to Gravity Falls or something.**

 **Anyway, let's answer some reviews:**

 **1) ChernoMan: I don't remember YuYuYu myself... actually, I don't think I've ever watched it, and considering how long it's been, you probably already finished the entire series, so... I don't know what to tell you.**

 **** I'm... decently neutral on the story. I like the concept and would like to keep it going, but I have to face the fact that I'll have to move on to either original fiction, or another kind of fanfic story eventually. Also, hiatuses, they do a number on everyone.**

 **** "This is your final blunder"? *Tobi voice* Oh ho, am I being understimated?**

 **2) Nobody245: I guess she lacks the foresight to notice that.**

 **And now, to the chapter.**

* * *

The day didn't start so well for the Loud family, especially the loud father and mother, who were being told of what had happened at the laboratory.

"So, what you're saying is, that the project Lincoln and Lisa were working on is close to being completed," Lynn Sr. remarked.

"And it has evolved to the point that it can protect itself?" Rita said, putting a hand on her cheek.

"Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Shrinivas, and Teri hit its "chamber" or whatever, with everything they had, in their strongest forms," Lucy explained. "And it failed to do anything."

Rita covered her mouth with her hands, while her husband put a hand on her shoulder.

"B-But, you don't have to worry about it too much!" Lynn added. "We still got several months left to train and become stronger so that when it does hatch or whatever, we'll be able to give it a beating!"

"I sure hope so," Lynn Sr. sighed. "Because at this point, I can't think of what else can we do. Oh, and before you leave, how do you know about this stuff in the first place?"

"Leni told us," Lucy answered. "She said that by this point, there was really no point trying to keep secrets anymore."

Rita took off her hands and let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, if that's the case, maybe soon enough she'll return to be a part of the team, right?"

Everybody fell silent, not knowing what to say.

With that done, Lucy and Lynn left their parents' bedroom and walked back downstairs.

"Well, they took it better than expected," Lynn remarked. "I was honestly expecting one of them to brak down crying and lose all hope."

"Let's just hope our sisters take it just as well," Lucy said. "After all, they're going to be among the people who'll be fighting that thing."

"Which reminds me, how are we supposed to grow stronger before the day comes?" Lynn pondered out loud, scratching her chin. "I mean, we already have the lux aura thing, we already know how to take off our tics to gain a power up, and there's also the twilight aura thing but that requires an umbra aura who's willing to let us achieve the state in the first place."

"And now that you say the last thing, do the rest of our sisters know about the twilight aura thing? Like, actually know what it is and stuff?" Lucy asked. "Maybe we should try explain it to them-"

"So, basically, if a Lux Aura and an Umbra Aura hold hands, they'll "transmit" their powers to each other and enter a higher state known as a Twilight Aura?"

Hearing that, the duo exchanged looks and ran downstairs, before they ran up to their sisters at the couch.

"That appears to be the gist of it," Luna remarked, scratching her chin. "Now the only thing we need to worry about is where are we going to find Umbra Auras willing to share their power with us."

"And how are we going to convince them to help us at all," Lola said. "Remember, the job of most Umbra Auras is to help the Shadows incubate to their full forms. Giving their powers to us sounds like them sabotaging themselves."

"We could ask Girl Jordan and her group to help us turn into twilight auras," Lana suggested. "They seem to be willing to help us."

"Even if they do agree to help, they're still only four umbra auras, and there's at least nine of us," Luan remarked. "Not to mention the twilight auras typically combine the lux and umbra auras' weapons, and some combinations are less useful than others."

"And how do you know that?"

The sisters turned around to see Lynn and Lucy come out of their hiding spot.

"When did Lily actually explain the twilight aura state to you two?" Lucy inquired. "I thought she turned back into a baby

Luna and Luan exchanged confused looks.

"When did we say Lily told us about the twilight aura state?"

"Wait, she didn't tell you? Then..." Lynn hesitated. "Did... Girl Jordan tell you about it?"

Luna answered. "You're wrong there again. We actually came to the conclusion on our own."

Luan nodded. "Back when we were fighting Lucy's Eclipse and when Lynn's Eclipse form appeared and threw Lily away, we saw how she was caught by Girl Jordan and then transformed into twilight auras."

"From there, we thought about it a bit, and came to the conclusion by ourselves," Luna added.

Lucy and Lynn were left speechless.

"Anyway, you arrived at the perfect moment," Luna said. "We actually wanted to ask you if you had any ideas about how we're going to deal with this project Lincoln and Lisa have been working on since the start of this mess."

"Oh, well..."

Lucy and Lynn exchanged worried looks.

"We don't have any ideas."

"Although, we do have a thought: the cocoon covering the project can't be broken, but that doesn't mean the project itself is just as strong."

"So once it comes out, twilight auras should be able to destroy it, yeah, we know, we discussed that," Luan remarked. "But even if we didn't know that, we need a way to actually become twilight auras in order to be able to fight that thing."

Just then, one of the sisters turned to Lori, who was looking at the window with a contemplative look.

"Lori, is something wrong?"

The oldest sister took a deep breath and turned to her siblings.

"Back when Lincoln and Lisa revealed their true nature... and how they were there all along... he said my eyes turned golden, which is the eye color of the Umbra Auras. So maybe, just maybe, if I could achieve the Umbra Aura state-"

"By completely covering your cube in dark matter, or whatever its called?" Lynn asked. "Lucy and I already went through it, and it turned us into Eclipses: As far as we know, the girl called Dana went through a similar process, and it turned her into an Eclipse as well!"

"But there has to be some way to help me transform into an umbra aura!" Lori snapped. "I mean, Lincoln and Lisa literally created beings from nowhere and started the aura system in the first place, surely they can transform an aura from one state to the other, right?"

 _We're afraid we can't._

The sisters turned around and saw Gemini and Divisu standing at the door.

 _However, there might be another way to achieve the transformation-_

Suddenly, nearly every sister were aiming their weapon at the duo, who barely reacted.

"You sure have a lot of nerve appearing here after what you did!" Luna growled, narrowing her eyes. "What do you want?!"

Gemini sighed.

 _We want to ask for your help._

Divisu lowered her head.

 _Lincoln and I have made a terrible mistake: the shadows, the lux-umbra system, everything about this mess has been nothing but trouble._

"About time you realized it," Lana said as she slightly lowered her claws. "But you do know it's a bit too late to stop the project from destroying everything, right?"

Gemini shook his head.

 _Not quite: yes, it's too late to stop the project from finishing, especially thanks to that crystal shield. But it's not too late to get you prepared to fight it._

Lola raised an eyebrow. "And how do you suggest we do that?"

Divisu raised her head.

 _Well, for starters..._

* * *

Most of the team and the little furry pricks were at Lucy and Lynn's bedroom, where the jock checked Lucy's library and took out Great Grandma Harriet book.

"This is the book you're talking about?"

Gemini nodded.

 _Open it and head past the stuff you've already seen, about the light and darkness manipulation._

Lynn obliged, and opened the book as Luna noticed something.

"Say, did anybody see Lucy come with us?"

Luan and the sisters began looking around, and reunited just as the book suddenly, seemingly tried to pull itself out of Lynn's grasp.

"Now that you mention it, I didn't see her coming with us," Luan remarked, scratching the back of her head. "Do you think she-"

Suddenly, Luna and Luan were shoved aside by the Great Grandma Harriet's book, which apparently levitated as it left the room, with Lynn giving chase to it, followed by everybody else.

The chase eventually stopped back at the living room, where the book apparently tripped and hit the ground, only for the rest of the team to trip as they tried to reach it.

It was then that it was revealed with what, or in this case who, they tripped with: Lucy, whose invisibility ran out, rendering her visible again.

"Lucy?!" Lynn exclaimed.

"Oh right, she can turn invisible," Luan said with a sheepish smile. "I guess we forgot she could do that."

Lucy quickly stood up, jumped over her siblings and grabbed the book, though she only managed to get on the couch before she found herself cornered by the siblings.

"Lucy, the last thing we need is to waste our time playing cat and mouse with you," Lori said, sounding tired as she rubbed her forehead. "Please, hand over the book."

"You realize what book we're talking about, right?! It's the very book that caused this whole mess in the first place!" Lucy said in response. "Turning Lincoln and Lisa into evil plushies, giving them power to manipulate light and dark matter, the ability to create the shadows, every single problem we've faced so far, has been because of this one book!"

"If it's such a big source of problems, why didn't you throw it out or destroy it, then?" Lana asked, folding her arms.

"Yeah, that makes the most sense to me too," Lola remarked. "I mean, why even keep the book if, as you say, it's brought us nothing but trouble?"

Lucy flinched and looked back at the book, frowning as she explained herself.

"This is a family heirloom, not to mention the last thing we really have from Great Grandma Harriet. Even if it's brought so much trouble, I feel like throwing it out would be like throwing Great Grandma Harriet out of the house, it just... wouldn't feel right."

Then, the gothic lux aura turned to face Gemini and Divisu.

"A-And besides, we can't ignore the other problem: after lying to us, manipulating us, and pretty much orchestrating the entire situation with the shadows and eclipses and what-not, you really expect us to trust you?"

"Yeah, now that Lucy mentions it, you two are kinda the reason we're in this situation to begin with," Luan scratched the back of her head. "Just expecting us to willingly help you right now seems... farfetched."

Gemini sighed.

 _We understand, and we do deserve your hatred and distrust, but you have to understand the gravity of the situation: Royal Woods is in danger of being wiped off the map because Lisa and I failed to think through the whole plan. Mostly because a certain insisted on following an arbitrary script._

Everybody turned their attention to Divisu, who looked away.

 _Guilty whistle, guilty whistle._

Gemini sighed again and continued.

 _But right now, we can't mess around anymore. We need to find a way to become prepared when the project finally activates!_

Lucy thought about it, and understanding the reason, she took a deep breath and handed the book to Lori, who surfed through the pages until she went past the ones the siblings had seen before.

Only one problem: the pages she found were blank.

"Well, that shoves us right into a dead end," Luna remarked. "It might be late to say this, but I mean it: I'm sick of these dead end feelings!"

Luan shook her head and clicked her tongue.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, don't jump into conclusions, Luan. Maybe Great Grandma Harriet wrote on these pages with invisible ink."

"And how do we make it visible?" Lynn inquired. "I don't think we have anything that can uncover invisible ink at the moment."

Gemini and Divisu exchanged looks, nodded, and looked at the page before their eyes glew and shot a beam from them, uncovering the invisible pages and revealing the content in a green-orange glowing font.

"You just love pulling these abilities out of your butts, don't you?" Lola asked as Lori read the pages.

The creatures shrugged.

"The Twilight World."

Everybody turned to face Lori as she continued to read it.

"A world from where darkness rules and the very embodiment, of the world's inner darkness and issues take a physical form, and when the very embodiment of their inner light and virtues fight back against them."

Lori waited for someone to quip something like, "this sounds like a generic JRPG's intro," or, "Great Grandma Harriet sure seemed to like ominous poetry."

But there was no such witty response. In fact, there was no response at all, as the siblings remained silent and listened intently as Lori continued.

"In this world of both light and dark, which has existed before mankind was a thing, those who manage to enter this world and come out have a chance to gain the ability to manipulate light and darkness, though this doesn't become apparent as soon as they get out."

Lori sat down next to Lucy, all eyes still on her as she finished.

"I was lucky enough to find a way back from the realm when I accidentally stumbled upon it, but I'm afraid I can't share my knowledge of it so openly. I sprinkle bits and pieces of my experiences and what I learned in the rest of the book, but before I finish, I want whoever reads this to listen well: never go to the Twilight Realm, unless you're sure you can come back from it."

With that said, Lori closed the book, and the siblings took a chance to process what this meant.

"So, wait a minute, going by what the page is suggesting... the lux and umbra auras existed before?" Luna asked, scratching the back of her head. "As in, they weren't just something Lincoln and Lisa made up?"

"Not just that they've existed before now, but that they've existed since the times of Great Grandma Harriet," Lynn remarked, folding her arms and shaking her head. "Heh, I wonder how much fun Great Grandma Harriet had in that zone."

"She never once mentions the place once in the rest of the book, so I'm assuming it was either lackluster or bad," Lucy said. "Anyway, what does this mean about our chances of defeating the project?"

"Yeah, the book ends with the warning; there's no more pages to decipher or anything," Lori added, opening and surfing through the book again to make sure. "And what's more, Great Grandma Harriet didn't say anything about how one can access the Twilight World."

Gemini tilted his head.

 _A necessary failsafe perhaps. After all, if someone found the book and heard about the Twilight World, it's safe to say the first thing they'd do is try to reach it in order to reveal its existence to the world._

Divisu shook her head.

 _A lost cause, since cameras and the like don't work whatsoever in the realm._

Just then, all eyes fell on Divisu.

"Wait, have either of you been to the Twilight World?"

Gemini tilted his head again.

 _Where else do you think Lisa got her idea for the Shadows and Eclipses? Although, admittedly, we didn't exactly go there willingly._

Divisu lowered her head.

 _After the lab incident that turned us into these... plushie things, we were briefly stuck in the Twilight World, where we absorbed some of the light and dark matter from there before being forcefully shoved back into our plushie forms._

"Yeah, we're going to take your words with the tiniest grain of salt possible," Luna folded her arms. "Now, do either of you know how to access the Twilight World?"

Gemini and Divisu exchanged looks, and nodded.

* * *

The Loud siblings and the plushies gathered at the backyard on a circle, with Gemini and Divisu inside said circle as everybody looked at them.

The Loud parents weren't there, however, but that wasn't out of the ordinary.

Regardless, Gemini and Divisu's eyes glew as they opened their mouths, and released a black and a white cube similar to the ones the sisters had seen before.

However, unlike those cubes, these two actually reacted to each other, slowly pulling themselves towards the other until they clashed and merged, transformed into a square-shaped portal, showing a black-and-white landscape.

 _Alright, that should do it._

 _Now Lori has to enter the portal and face her inner darkness to become an Umbra Aura._

Lori walked towards the portal just as the rest of the sisters summoned their weapons, catching the plushies' attention.

 _What are you doing?_

"We're getting ready to come with Lori, of course," Lily said, gripping her mace with both hands. "If we all go to the Twilight World together, we're surely going to be able to beat her darkness!"

Gemini got on Lily's way.

 _W-Wait, don't do anything reckless!_

"You're one to talk," Lynn said as she went to Lily's side. "What's the problem this time?"

 _The problem's that you're all jumping to conclusions: this is a portal to another dimension you know nothing about, heck, it's a dimension neither Leni, Lisa, or I know anything about!_

Divisu walked to Gemini's side.

 _And besides, if you all go into the Twilight World, you'll all end up facing your own darkness, without even having a chance to help Lori fight her own inner demon._

Lynn raised an eyebrow. "Is that a threat?"

Divisu shook her head.

 _It's a warning. If you spend longer than a second thinking about it and connecting the pieces, you'll see for yourself that you going with Lori would change nothing._

Lynn turned to Luna.

"Luna, what do you think?"

Luna glanced at the plushies and gave their words

"If Lori going to the Twilight World will make her face her darkness, then logically, if we go, then our darkness will fight us as well."

Then, she looked at the portal.

"And besides, who knows how many people that portal can take before it glitches or something."

Finally, she turned to Lori.

"I think we should let Lori do this by herself."

Lori smiled with hints of pride as Luna's weapon dissipated, followed by the rest of the sisters doing the same, including a reluctant Lily.

Seeing her like that, Lori walked up to her, crouched down and brushed her hair.

"I'll be back soon, I promise."

Lily slowly smiled and nodded.

Lori promptly stood up, returned to the portal, and summoned her spear before she jumped through, leaving her sisters to wait for her on the other side.

* * *

Lori landed safely on the ground of the dimension, using her spear for extra safety. Once there, she slowly stood up and took a look around.

Like the book described it, the dimension was completely black and white: the skies, the ground, the trees, the strange glowing cocoon that served as some sort of sun-moon-thing, everything was monochrome.

Everything except for Lori herself, that is.

"Okay, now that I'm here, all I have to do is look for my darkness," Lori said to herself as she took a couple steps forward. "Now, where am I supposed to look?"

Suddenly, Lori stepped on something, followed by a squeaky noise.

She looked down and saw she was stepping on the tail of some creature, which was trying to run away as Lori's foot on its tail kept it in place.

Lori quickly raised her foot, causing the creature to fall on its face, though it soon stood up seemingly no worse for wear.

"Sorry about that."

The creature turned back at Lori and sat down, slightly moving their tail as Lori took a closer look at them.

They were a white quadrupedal creature, with cat-like ears that ended on long, thin appendages holding some kind of cube at its edges. Their paws and nose were either black or a very dark grey, and the creature had purple, unblinking eyes.

In fact, the longer Lori looked at it, the more the creature reminded her of a certain someone.

"Gemini? I mean, Lincoln?"

Lori heard another creature cry, and she and the white entity turned to see a similar creature run up to them, looking mostly the same as the other one except the colors were reversed: it was mostly black with white parts, and had golden eyes instead.

"Divisu?" Lori raised an eyebrow. "What are you guys doing here?"

The creatures turned to Lori and tilted their head.

"Come on, don't start trying to pull the innocent act again, I already know who you really are."

And then she heard another cry, from another creature.

Lori looked around, and her eyes widened as she saw dozens of similar white and black creatures approaching them, with Lori looking strictly at them as they gathered and stood by the sides of the original creatures, imitating their head tilt in the process.

"W-What... what are these-"

"Finally catching up, aren't we?"

Lori and the creatures looked up to see a dark cloud forming in the sky, before it contorted until it turned into a monochrome, golden-eyed version of her, spear included.

"My darkness!"

"Geez, what a ridiculous name, call me Dark Lori, would you?" My Darkness replied. "Anyway, I hope these little pricks managed to help you open your eyes."

Dark Lori glared at the creatures.

"They're not useful for anything else, after all."

The creature shivered and hid behind Lori.

"What do you mean open my eyes?" Lori gripped her spear and narrowed her eyes. "Why do they resemble Leni's toy designs for my brother and sister!?"

"Oh, silly me, or should I say silly you? Pronouns are always a pain when you're a piece of a larger picture, don't you think?" Dark Lori chuckled. "Anyway, I'm afraid you're mistaken: these critters here don't resemble those toys you mention. If anything."

Dark Lori smirked.

"It's the _toys_ who resemble _them_."

Lori took a step back as her darkness chuckled, and continued.

"These critters have been here for as long as the Twilight World has existed: from the primitive beginnings of mankind, to the dark times of the depression, up to the heated politics of the current era. It doesn't matter how long any of these things have been going, these things existed first."

Lori looked back at the frightened critters. "What are they anyway?"

"Living pieces of light and dark matter, at least, that's one the easiest way to describe them," Dark Lori shook her head. "But they're just like a black box: it doesn't matter what they are, not in any sense of the word. What matters is what they can do."

Dark Lori extended her hand towards the ground, and it came out around the critters, managing to grab and drag two of them as Lori noticed and tried to stab it with her spear.

However, the critters were dragged to Dark Lori's side, desperately trying to free themselves from her grasp as she smirked.

"And trust me, they can do some wonderful stuff."

Lori lunged straight for her dark self, only for Dark Lori to flash a bemused smile as she aimed one of her arms at her and extended them, pushing her all the way until she crashed on a tree.

"Listen, I know you're here to waste your time trying to kill me, but the least you could do is let me finish my explanation before you attack. Now where was I? Oh right..."

Dark Lori turned back to the critters, grabbed their heads, and slowly pulled them until they separated from their bodies, squeaky sound included.

Rather than bleed out, however, the critters' bodies dissipated and their heads shrank and contorted into another familiar figure: a black cube and a white cube.

"W-Wait, those cubes..." Lori looked at her own white cube. "They look just like the cubes used for... wait..."

Dark Lori threw the cubes away, and they dissipated as soon as they touched the ground.

"The cubes the Lux and Umbra Auras use to transform are made from these creatures?"

Dark Lori nodded, and slid straight to Lori, face-to-face.

"That's just scratching the surface of the truth, but you don't care about that, do you?"

Lori swung her spear at Dark Lori, who swung her dark spear at the same time, repeatedly clashing until the pair clashed hard enough to send each other flying back a couple feet.

However, Lori quickly got back up and bolted towards Dark Lori, throwing her spear at her as she ran.

Dark Lori rolled her eyes and slid out of the spear's way, only to go straight to Lori's punch, causing her to fly away until she crashed on a bunch of rubble.

And as Lori grabbed her spear, she noticed the spot of Dark Lori's face she had punched had left a gaping hole in it.

"Dang, a single punch did that to you?" Lori frowned and scratched the back of her head. "Geez, I was just trying to knock you out, not literally blow a hole in your face."

The gap contorted into a smile, and _moved_ as Dark Lori spoke _regardless_.

"It's okay."

The gap quickly closed itself, reforming back into Dark Lori's face as the embodied darkness gripped her dark spear.

"Like everything you do to me, it won't last."

Dark Lori fell into the dark ground and Lori looked around to see where she'd arrive... only to see her come out from the sky, Lori narrowly dodging the diving darkness.

Lori promptly threw her spear at Dark Lori again, but the living darkness swatted it away.

"Was the talking hole not enough of a hint for you?"

Lori extended her hand and her spear flew back to her, though unfortunately, Dark Lori took the chance to leap to her and kick her straight into the dark ground.

"I'm the very embodiment of your inner darkness! The very thing you wish to forget ever existed!"

Dark Lori stepped on Lori's back.

"As long as you keep fighting, you will never defeat me!"

Lori swung her spear and impaled Dark Lori, successfully lifting and throwing her over to the other side of the realm, giving Lori a chance to stand up and catch her breath.

A chance that became short-lived as Dark Lori quickly stood up and healed her wound, all with a smug smile on her face.

Seeing the fight was quickly heading nowhere, Lori took one final deep breath before she rose up, narrowed her eyes...

And threw her spear away, extended her hands forward afterwards.

"...Huh?" Dark Lori raised an eyebrow. "What did you do?"

"You said it yourself: as long as I keep fighting you, I'm never going to win," Lori responded, keeping her stance. "So, rather than fight you, I'm going to accept you."

Dark Lori lowered her spear and frowned.

"You do realize you're essentially giving me, a living concentration of darkness, enter your body, right? That's the exact method used to create the Eclipses: let the darkness go inside you, and let it overpower you."

Dark Lori smirked.

"As far as you know, as soon as you "accept" me, I could turn you into an Eclipse and nobody would learn anything. Are you sure you want to take the risk?"

Lori smiled with confidence.

"I see... well then, you lose the right to complain."

Dark Lori morphed back into her cloudy form and rushed towards Lori...

* * *

The Loud sisters and the furry jerks continued to look at the portal, hoping Lori would come out sometime soon.

"Lori's been inside there for a while," Lily frowned. "Do you think she needs help?"

 _Even if she needs help, we agreed to let her do this by herself. We should respect that decision, and wait patiently for-_

Suddenly, a figure jumped out of the portal, which closed soon afterwards.

This figure of course was Lori, who, instead of sporting her colored Lux Aura uniform, now had a dark uniform with light blue highlights, as well as dark sclera and golden eyes, revealed once she stood up and opened her eyes.

Though surprised by the sight, the sisters hesitated to summon their weapons, and waited for Lori to do something...

She flashed a genuine smile.

"I'm back, everyone."

Suddenly, a black light covered Lori and split from her, returning her back to her Lux Aura form as the light morphed into a figure similar to Lori.

"You mean, _we're_ back."

This time, the sisters did summon their weapons.

"Don't worry girls, she's not here to fight," Lori said. "This is literally my dark self, which I accepted into myself to gain the Umbra Aura form."

"I used to be your dark self, you mean," the dark construct said as it morphed once again. "Right now, I'm something different."

Another morphing later, the spirit now took the form of a large, red-eyed raven, who rested on Lori's shoulder afterward.

 **\- Inner Demon of Communication, Valravn -**

"As you can see, I'm now an inner demon. Call me Valravn."

"So wait, accepting your darkness lets you control an inner demon?" Lynn asked, trying to wrap her head around the fact. "I guess that explains where Leni got her inner demon from then."

Which also caused Luan to realize something.

"But wait, if Lori got an inner demon from accepting her darkness, and Leni was the first person we saw in possession of an inner demon..."

"It suggests that Leni has been to the Twilight World too, yes, I know," Lori nodded. "My dark self suggested as much while we fought."

Then, Lori lowered her head.

"And as if that wasn't enough, I came across creatures who resembled Lincoln and Lisa's current forms."

The sisters gasp, while Lily tilted her head.

"Did you know about that-"

However, once they turned to ask the creatures their thoughts on it, they found them to be nowhere in sight.

"Lincoln? Lisa?"

"They ran away again!" Lola complained. "How do they keep doing that!?"

"Whatever the case, at least we got an Umbra Aura on our side now," Luna sighed. "Although, it would help if we had some way to locate them."

Valravn caughed, getting everyone's attention... and giving Lori an idea.

"Valravn, can I ask you a favor?"

The supernatural raven smiled, and nodded.


	20. Episode X: Board

**And now we have the next part of episode 10. Episode 11 and 12 might take a while to come out, so brace yourselves for another hiatus, folks.**

 **Okay, now where are my brownies for being honest? XD**

 **Only one review, so let's answer it:**

 **1) Nobody245: This story is going to get a conclusion, and even if it must outlive the show its based on, Chains of Reality will have a proper conclusion too. It might take a while, it may take a dozen hiatuses, but they _will_ get the conclusion they deserve.**

 *** I'm gonna need more cowbells!**

 **And now, to the chapter.**

* * *

Valravn flew high across the skies, looking around the scenery as they remembered their mission vividly: find Gemini and Divisu, and get them to come back home.

Also, look for Leni, if possible. After all, with all the new info the sisters had gotten out of Lori's Twilight World visit, she'd have a few things to explain.

Regardless, Valravn continued flying across the skies, until they spotted something and landed on a tree branch to take a closer look at it.

The thing they spotted being, of course, Gemini and Divisu.

 _I still think we should've at least stayed until Lori had returned from the Twilight World._

 _And be forced to play twenty questions with our sisters? You know that if we had stayed behind, they would've kept us all day asking us questions after questions!_

 _I know, but-_

 _Lincoln, there's something important that we have to do, and the more time we waste, the more and more the window of opportunity will close, until we lose our only chance to do this. We have to go now._

 _...Yeah, you're right. Let's go._

The creatures ran deeper into the forest, unaware of Valravn's chasing after them.

Eventually, the creatures lead Valravn to a giant silver complex, looking rather similar to the flying laboratory the creature's project was being held at, except the door seemed to be a little bit too small to allow

Good thing Valravn was anything but human!

However, before they flew into the building, they sensed a disturbance nearby, and turned around to see the tall hospital from before having a room glowing purple, the color of the Eclipse's shadow zone.

It wasn't Valravn's problem, though, so they flew into the building, believing that somebody else would deal with the problem in due time.

* * *

And in due time, someone did notice the atmosphere coming from the hospital: this being Girl Jordan and her group, mostly Girl Jordan, who were watching the building from the treehouse.

"Looks like an Eclipse is being created at the hospital," Mollie remarked, tilting and scratching her head. "But I can't see the spot where the shadow zone's supposed to emerge."

"The Eclipse's probably one of the smaller ones," Kat suggested. "Either that, or the shadow zone is inside the hospital."

"Whatever the case may be, somebody needs to go there and deal with it before it spreads," Girl Jordan stated as she summoned her bow and arrow. "Mollie, I need you to spread our wings and take me there-"

"Is it really worth it?"

The team turned to face Joy, who was leaning against the wall, looking particularly upset as she looked at the hospital.

"Are you sure you should even try to help that hospital?" Joy asked sternly, turning back to the trio. "I mean, they're the same hospital who denied you entry because they had too much people in there, right?"

"Why are you bringing this up now, Joy?" Girl Jordan asked. "I thought you didn't like me that much?"

"It's one thing to not like you, but it's another thing to let that fool me into forgetting that that hospital denied you the medical attention you desperately need!" Joy pointed out. "Even if you were only planning to get a bandage or two to create a healing arrow, that's not something a place like a hospital should get away with!"

Girl Jordan got ready to say something, only to turn to Mollie and Kat, who spoke afterwards:

"Back when you were injured, the receptionist nurse lady was kinda rude in rejecting us, since there were already so many injured people there. I mean, I could understand if there were too many injured, but she could've been nicer about it."

"Besides, going all over the place to look for another hospital wasn't exactly an option at the time: you needed medical attention, and fast."

"Don't tell me you agree with Joy in that we should let the Eclipse destroy the hospital!"

"Not in the slightest, what we do agree with her on, however, is that after rejecting you so harshly despite being someone capable of fighting the eclipses, not to mention being injured, it's only fitting that place has something bad happen to it," Kat clarified. "Maybe not an Eclipse attack, but a complaint."

"Whatever, the longer we waste our time here, the more time the Eclipse will have to destroy that place!" Girl Jordan went up to Mollie and grabbed her hand. "Mollie, take me to the hospital, right now!"

The winged umbra aura sighed and spread her wings, only to be stopped by somebody else grabbing her hand. And this someone was not Kat, but Joy.

"Being sad, a buzzkill, wanting to help people that rejected you once for no reason, it seems that you're stubborn no matter what once you have a goal in mind," Joy sternly spoke. "But fine, if you're going to go to the hospital regardless, I might as well tag-along to see how long it takes before you give up."

"I would've had a much harder time to deal with the Eclipse if I were to go alone," Girl Jordan sighed. "Take us to the hospital, Mollie."

"Isn't Kat coming along too?" Mollie asked. "I'm just asking so she doesn't get angry at me later."

"I think this is an occasion where Girl Jordan and Joy should go on a mission together," Kat responded. "And besides, I can't think of much I can do to help the situation."

"I see..."

Mollie took a deep breath, and flew out of the threehouse and onto the hospital, carrying Joy and Girl Jordan to the best of her ability.

* * *

Valravn quietly flew around as they followed the sentient furry plushies, who crossed a couple doors until they reached a circular room with five pillars on the walls, with shadowy figures standing on top of them.

Valravn stood behind the doors and heard as Divisu spoke.

 _Board of Mentors, we need to talk with you._

The lights slowly turned around, revealing the members of said Board of Mentors. Most of them looked similar to Gemini and Divisu, in the sense that they were also sentient plushies: One member was a dog, another was a cat, another an alligator, and another one

The member of the center, and presumably their leader however, didn't fit this description... for the most part.

They were some kind of combination between a donkey and a camel: Having a camel's body with the tail and hooves of a donkey, and with a face that resembled Gemini and Divisu's features, only with a smile permanently sewed on it.

They also had pink, unblinking eyes, and a pair of hand-like appendages attached to the side of their face.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the oh-so charismatic Lisa Loud," the donkey-camel-thing spoke, not moving their mouth. "It's been a long time since you've talked with us."

Gemini tilted his head, finding the voice of this creature familiar, but not quite getting the idea of why... until they spoke again, directly at him.

"And it's also good to see you again, too, Loud Child. I'm happy to see my limosine body once again."

Gemini's ears lifted and he took a step back.

 _Tetherby._

"In effect, Loud Child," the furry creature stated, still not moving their mouth. "And unlike your siblings at your sides, I don't need to use telepathy to communicate."

The creature smirked. "Because I was smart enough to have a mouth sewed on my plushie properly before the transformation."

 _B-But your mouth isn't even moving!_

"That's besides the point, Loud Child," Tetherby shook his head. "I think the thing you should be more focused on right now, is the fact that we meet once again after such a long time. And going by your sister's tone, you seem to be in a pickle."

Divisu tilted her head.

 _Lincoln, do you know this guy?_

Gemini turned to Divisu, and though his face didn't show it, his exasperation could still be felt in the atmosphere.

 _It's Tetherby! The rich jerk who convinced me to act like a jerk that time we got the limosine._

Divisu, rather than be shocked at the statement, raised her head as she remembered the event in question.

 _Ah, that was such a long time, I had forgotten all about it. Good times, good times..._

Divisu paused...

 _Wait, he's that Tetherby!?_

"I'm so flattered that you finally realize who I am," Tetherby chuckled. "But anyway, what do you want to talk to us about?"

Divisu took a step forward, only for Gemini to take a couple, blunt steps and speak sternly.

 _We want you to help us put a stop to the project we collaborated on, so we can save Royal Woods._

The board began murmuring among themselves, while Tetherby tilted his head, his chuckle suggesting both surprise, yet amusement.

"Stop the project? Save Royal Woods? Wasn't the point of the project to create something so dangerous, and so powerful, that both Lux and Umbra Auras, especially your sisters, would join together to save Royal Woods?"

Gemini groaned.

"Besides, going by what I've heard, the project has already crystallized itself for protection, ensuring that it will be completed by the time the final month of the year rolls by. If you had asked us earlier... well, we wouldn't have done it anyway, but at least there would be a chance to destroy it. But now? There's nothing you can do about it."

Tetherby's eyes glew golden.

"Nothing but sit back and enjoy as the project endangers the world."

 _This is serious, Tetherby! Our families, our friends, every single innocent life living in Royal Woods is in danger of being destroyed by the project!_

"You should've thought about that back when we started planning for it, then. I mean, creating a monster made from light and darkness, capable of challenging even the strongest, hypothetical beings you could manage to create? The fact it took you _this long_ to figure out it was a bad idea is simply offensive."

 _But-_

"Enough with you! Although, you clearly won't stop until we decide to help you on this pointless request of yours. Your sister has given us that impression. Therefore..."

Tetherby created a hand with magic and snapped its fingers, summoning several magical turrets afterwards that automatically aimed at the pair.

"I'm afraid we'll have to get rid of you personally. No hard feelings."

* * *

Once at the hospital, Mollie dropped Girl Jordan and Joy and leaned against a wall to catch her breath.

"Okay, Mollie, wait outside here until we've taken care of the Eclipse," Girl Jordan instructed the winged aura. "No matter what happens or what you hear, don't go inside."

"Wait, what?" Mollie frowned. "So I'm just going to be your transportation method for this mission?"

"Mollie, your wings are strong enough to be as useful as any other weapon, but you're literally the only one of us with the ability to fly," Joy pointed out. "If something happens to you, and we end up getting beaten up, we'll have to either call a taxi or walk back to the treehouse."

"Oh, I see, yeah, that would be pretty bad," Mollie scratched the back of her head. "S-So, okay, I'll stay here and wait for you to come back."

Girl Jordan and Joy nodded in agreement, and they both walked inside, being immediately greeted by a rather desolate atmosphere, as well as a nearly empty entrance.

"Huh, it seems people already evacuated," Girl Jordan said, getting a raised eyebrow from Joy in response. "At least, I hope they evacuated."

Joy walked up to the counter, jumped up, and saw the receptionist crouching and hugging herself, shivering as she looked up and panicked at seeing Joy's stern expression. "An Umbra Aura!"

"Relax, lady, I'm not one of the Umbra Auras who empower the Eclipses," Joy replied, waving her hand in a dismissive manner. "Rather, my friend and I hoped you could tell us what you know about the Eclipse attacking this hospital."

The receptionist took a deep breath and clutched her chest. "I might as well help you for a chance to get out of here alive: an Eclipse suddenly emerged in one of the rooms in the upper level."

"Do you have any information about the Eclipse's base?"

The receptionist raised an eyebrow.

"The person that transformed into the Eclipse."

"Well, it's not one person, it's two: A pair of patients called Becky and Dana."

Girl Jordan and Joy's eyes widened as they recognized the former's name, prompting Joy to bid farewell to the receptionist before she and Girl Jordan ran upstairs, prompting the woman to stand up and snap:

"Don't run in the hallways!"

"Whatever, old hag!"

"If Becky and Dana are the ones creating the Eclipse, the best thing we can hope for is that it has some similarity to Dana's previous Eclipse form," Girl Jordan stated as Joy listened with a stern look. "At least we'll have an idea on how to deal with it."

" _You'll_ have an idea how to deal with it."

"Right, you weren't there when it happened," Girl Jordan sighed. "Let's focus on finding the Eclipse."

The girls began their search around the hospital's upper level, checking a pair of rooms before moving on to the next. However, every room they checked were exactly the same: completely empty, no beds, no doctors or nurses, no medical equipment, the rooms had essentially been wiped clean.

"Have you found anything or anybody yet, Joy?" Girl Jordan asked.

"The only thing I've found out is that the rooms have been wiped clean," Joy replied, scratching her chin as she thought about it. "It's one thing if the medics and the patients managed to come out, but the fact that the rest of the

Girl Jordan sighed. "What should we do now?"

"Be a pair of buzzkills and wait for the more optimistic people to handle it?" Joy folded her arms and rolled her eyes. "That sounds like something you would do, anyway."

Just then, Girl Jordan remembered a particular detail between her and Joy "You're still angry about the fact I was such a pessimistic buzzkill back when everybody was upset about Lincoln's disappearance?"

"As far as I know, you're _still_ a pessimistic buzzkill; you only really started to change once that girl Lily appeared," Joy pointed out, keeping her stern tone as she avoided eye contact with Girl Jordan. "Every time we go on missions without her around, you're like a stoic person that prefers to get the job done fast. Even when you try to cheer us up, they're things that Lily told you before."

"Is there a problem with that?" Girl Jordan put her hands on her hips. "Why can't I just say something positive when we're feeling down?"

"The problem's that they're not _your_ words! You're just parroting what that girl told you! If she hadn't told you about how you didn't need to be evil, you'd have remained convinced that your sole purpose, the purpose to all Umbra Auras even, is to empower the Eclipses!" Joy turned around and narrowed her eyes. "Ever since then, she's been a source of inspiration for you, and while I don't have a problem with that, the fact you needed someone else to cheer you up, rather than cheer up on your own, upsets me."

"Because _you_ weren't the one who cheered me up?"

"Because you _chose_ to remain a bummer."

Girl Jordan blinked twice as she thought about Joy's statement, only for her to start sliding towards something at the end of the hall.

"J-Joy-"

"I don't want a worded apology, Girl Jordan, I want you to apologize with actions-!"

Then, Joy began sliding as well, prompting her to summon her staff and plant it on the ground, followed by her grabbing Girl Jordan as the archer suddenly lifted with the wind.

"What's attracting us now!?" Joy exclaimed.

Girl Jordan looked at the thing in questioned, followed by Joy, and the pair grimaced at the fact the thing attracting them wasn't just a thing, but a pair of people.

They were Becky and Dana, sporting glowing Golden eyes as they were surrounded by a purple, swirling tornado.

 ** _Back with Gemini, Divisu, and Valravn..._**

The former duo ran as fast as they could as the turrets followed them, shooting as much lead as they could, while the latter flew behind, trying to think of a way to deal with the turrets as the plushies shared a dialogue.

 _So, let me get this straight: while I was fooling myself into helping you because this would help us as much as it would help everybody else, you were working alongside someone like Tetherby to create the project!?_

 _I didn't know that was the same Tetherby as the one that turned you into a limo jerk!_

 _How could he not be?! I can't think of a single other person in Royal Woods with a name like Tetherby!_

 _He didn't present himself to me as that Tetherby, he presented himself in another way!_

The plushies escaped the building and hid in the bushes, the turrets looking around for a bit before they started scanning the surrounding area.

Valravn came out soon afterwards, and silently followed one of the turrets as the pair of plushies hid, and continued their conversation.

 _He presented himself as something else? If you're talking about that camel-donkey form, that should've given you even more incentive not to trust him!_

 _No, he didn't show himself like that, although trust me, if he had, I would've gotten second thoughts about this._

 _Then how did he show himself to you? Because I find it hard to believe that you would trust Tetherby in any way shape or form._

Divisu lowered her head, and began to remember how she met him...

* * *

At the laboratory, Lisa spoke with some shadowed figures on a large monitor screen.

 _Tetherby was one of the many business contacts I made over my stunt as an independent scientist. He marked himself as a representative for Harriet Enterprises, and he said his group was very interested in our current project once I told him about it._

The shadowed contractors slowly left the screen one by one, until there was only one, chubby contrator left.

 _Since nearly every other contact I had decided they wanted nothing to do with this project, for reasons that become clear to me now, I had no choice but to accept Tetherby's proposal to work together._

Time passed, and Lisa worked with Lincoln on the project, the shadowed contractor remained on the screen, talking about something.

 _From there, it took a while before we met in person, and by in person, I mean by the time we had already been transformed into our plushie forms. Until that day, we mostly talked through voice messages._

Lisa, now in her Divisu form, walked to a meeting room and sat on one end of the table, with Tetherby's donkey-camel form on the other end.

 _Eventually, when we did meet, he acted like one of the most charismatic people that I've ever met, so, it became a bit harder for me to see him as someone I couldn't trust with the project. He wasn't trustworthy or not shady by any means of the imagination, but I felt like I could trust him with the project regardless._

Divisu and the camel extended their hands, legs, hooves, things, and shook them.

* * *

 _So the reason you became partners with Tetherby was out of desperation to find someone who could collaborate with us on the project?_

 _Yeah, literally nobody else wanted anything to do with it. I guess they figured out that it was a bad idea long before I did._

 _But still, you said that Tetherby was in his camel-donkey form when you met him for the first time, right? How could that be?_

 _What do you mean?_

 _Well, we wound up turning into sentient plushies thanks to a spell from Great Grandma Harriet's spellbook gone wrong, but that same spell was never used on Tetherby, right?_

 _No, Leni kept the book in the house by my request, and even if Tetherby had asked it, Leni wouldn't hand it that easily._

 _Then how did Tetherby turn into a creature similar, yet more weird than us?_

This line of thought was interrupted once the turrets appeared and prepared to fire at the duo, this time for the kill, until a flash of light blue light spread across the turrets, destroying them immediately.

The source of the light soon showed themselves to the duo, revealing themselves to be Valravn.

 _Who are you?_

"My name is Valravn. And I need you to come with me."

* * *

Joy and Girl Jordan continued their struggle to stay in place from Dana and Becky's combined Eclipse's attractive force, a force that felt somehow similar in power to that of a black hole.

"Those must be the girls the receptionist was talking about!" Girl Jordan said.

And then, Girl Jordan's grip slipped, and her bow and arrow were attracted to the living black hole, being absorbed into them as soon as they touched their aura.

"They absorbed it?!"

"That must be what happened to the rooms!" Joy stated. "But if that's the case, where do they take the things they absorb?!"

The Becky half of the black hole squinted her eyes and leaned closer, taking a good look at the pair until she recognized Girl Jordan's figure. Upon doing so, her eyes gained a red glow as she extended her arm forward, causing the attractive force to grow stronger.

"I think one of them wants something with you!" Joy shouted.

"She might still be angry about what happened back when Dana first turned into an Eclipse," Girl Jordan said, scratching her chin as she got an idea. _If that's the case, and considering what Joy said about me being a drag..._

"I won't be able to hold on for long, Girl Jordan!" Joy exclaimed, feeling her grip on her staff growing more and more tired. "We need to do something, and fast!"

Hearing that, Girl Jordan took a deep breath, and at the top of her lungs, yelled at the Eclipse: "Becky, I'm sorry for what happened!"

The eclipse, dumbfounded at the exclamation, briefly stopped their absorbing aura, causing the girls to calm down and the auras to drop on the ground. The bow and arrows were also returned back to Girl Jordan, alongside the interior of the hospital rooms, except for the medics and patients.

"Okay, that seems to have worked somehow, at least the interior of the rooms have returned," Girl Jordan said as she stood up and dusted herself. "But if we want everybody to return, I need to keep this

"Girl Jordan, wait, let's think about this for a second," Joy said, getting in Girl Jordan's way. "You want to walk up to an Eclipse composed of two people, who have an aura that can absorb objects and people into another dimension, and you think they're not going to freak out once you get close and absorb you?"

"I think they're lucid enough to listen to reason for a moment," Girl Jordan smiled. "And besides..."

Girl Jordan and Joy turned to look at the duo, and noticed that Dana's half of the Eclipse looked rather... upset.

"I think I know exactly what to say to them."

Girl Jordan walked up to the duo, earning an angry look from Becky the closer she got. And as soon as she began raising her arm, Girl Jordan told her:

"Becky, look at Dana."

The Eclipse obliged and turned, flinching when she saw how upset Dana was.

"Does she look like she's happy with the things you're doing now? That she's being forced to go along with you in this absorption spree?"

Becky frowned.

"Look, I don't know what caused you to turn into an Eclipse: maybe you were corrupted through an outside force, I don't know, but what I do know is that you're not helping her. In fact, you're making her go through the same thing she did back when she first became an Eclipse."

Becky's eyes widened, and she turned back to Dana as Girl Jordan continued.

"And yes, I know that it's because of me that Dana ran off and became an Eclipse in the first place, and for that, I'm sorry too. But you have to understand that this time, _you're_ the one that's putting her in an uncomfortable spot. _You're_ the one making her relive those times as an Eclipse."

Dana grabbed Becky's hand, and nodded in agreement with Girl Jordan's statement.

"Now, I don't know if you have the ability to get out of the Eclipse form on your own, but if you can't, the least you could do is try stay calm and not freak out while I go get someone who can try purify you."

Dana smiled at the statement and exchanged looks with Becky, before the duo nodded and snapped their fingers, returning the patients and the medics to their rooms. They then walked back to their room, while Girl Jordan put her arms behind her head and walked past a dumbfounded Joy.

"You... you didn't end the Eclipse, but you managed to get them to stop their rampage... just by words..."

"Yeah, I did," Girl Jordan answered with a pleased look. "Anyway, our work here is done. Let's go back to Mollie."

Joy took a couple more seconds to process what this meant, before she shook her head and joined Girl Jordan as they walked downstairs.

"I have to say, you impressed me, Girl Jordan," Joy remarked with a little smile. "Of course, I was also freaking out internally from you trying something so outlandish as talking with the Eclipse."

"Hey, things came out well in the end," Girl Jordan replied. "Now, the only thing left to do is go find someone who can purify those girls."

"Speaking of that, do we know anybody with that ability?"

Girl Jordan smiled.

* * *

"Valravn! You came back with Gemini and Divisu!"

The supernatural raven dropped the plushies and collapsed on the ground, dissipating and flying to Lori's shoulder as the sisters surrounded the creatures.

"Sorry for collapsing just like that," Valravn's cloudy form apologized. "Those two things got themselves into quite a big mess."

"I'm not surprised to hear that," Lori brushed the cloud's head. "You did good, Valravn, take a rest."

The cloud dissipated into Lori, turning her back into an Umbra Aura.

She then walked into the circle surrounding Gemini and Divisu, who looked pretty badly beaten up.

"Well, dang, looks like you two took quite a beating." Lynn scratched the back of her head. "I mean, it's kind of satisfying after the heck you put us through, but still..."

Lori walked closer to the duo and crouched down, helping them get enough strength to stand up, looking at Gemini in particular.

"What literally happened with you two?"

 _We... we went to... the forest... to try and talk... the board into helping us... stop all of this..._

"The board?" Luna raised an eyebrow and turned to Divisu. "What is he talking about?"

 _We worked... alongside similar creatures... who formed a group simply known as the board... they handed us equipment, resources and... and helped us, make the project..._

Lori's eyes widened. "The thing that would endanger all of Royal Woods?"

The creatures nodded.

"And since you wanted to end what they put so much effort on, they chose to beat you up and leave you for dead?" Lynn folded her arms and raised her head. "Guess that'll teach you to think twice before you make deals with a group of sentient plush toys from another dimension."

Lynn paused and blinked twice, processing what she just said.

"How come this is the first time I've said something so weird and noticed it?"

"Regardless, we now know something about the team behind everything," Lori stood up. "Now all that's left to do is prepare for when the project finally becomes active."

The sisters all raised their hands

"Now, before we do that," Lori looked back at Gemini and Divisu. "There are a couple of things we'd like to ask you."

Gemini and Divisu lowered their heads, dreading the twenty questions that were surely going to come. Only for someone else to arrive: Girl Jordan, along with Mollie and Joy.

"Girl Jordan!" Lily chirped. "What brings you here?!"

"I came here because I need help," Girl Jordan answered. "And I'm afraid it's something only a certain someone can help me with."

Gemini tilted his head.

"I need to ask you something, Lincoln..."

 ** _Meanwhile, at Lincoln and Lisa's Flying Laboratory..._**

Tetherby landed on the edge of the laboratory, retracting his wings as he took a couple steps forward, then ran through the abandoned location until he arrived at the spot where the project was being incubated.

Unlike last time, the crystal cocoon covering the project was now glowing vibrantly, with Tetherby's reflection shining as the camel-donkey stared at it with a frozen smile.

"After all the resources, the effort, the people sacrificed to gather the materials from the Twilight World, your creators wanted to shut you down, simply because they chose too late to change their minds. Can you believe it? After working for so long, they thought they could just walk up to the board and request to get rid of you, can you believe it?"

The cocoon glew even more brightly as a demonic cry of pain was heard from within, only to suddenly go silent.

"I know, I'm upset that they thought about it too. I mean, I warned them that as soon as they began working on you, nothing they could do would be able to stop you. But did they listen? Of course they didn't!"

Another demonic cry later, Tetherby shook his head.

"You're right, that's besides the point now. What matters now is..."

Tetherby's eyes glimmered.

"You will soon make everyone's wish come true... Dawning Dusk. Whether they like it."

The cocoon cracked as Tetherby cackled maliciously...


	21. Episode XI: Dawning Dusk (Part 1)

**This chapter is a bit shorter than usual, I know, but I believe it does what needs to be done. Especially since this is the first part of the penultimate episode of the story.**

 **Well, let's not waste any more time, and answer some reviews:**

 **1) Nobody245: It's Tetherby, does he _ever_ know what he's doing? XD**

 **2) ChernoMan (chapter 19): Well, I'm glad to hear you're enjoying YuYuYu so far. I haven't seen it, so how many stuff in this story relates to it... I don't know XD**

 *** So, no more pricks, check.**

 *** Characters being a tiny bit more consistent, check.**

 *** Encouragement to keep this going, I always appreciate this.**

 *** Trust me, once this is over, it's purely CoR: DR from now until the end of the year... I hope.**

 **3) ChernoMan (chapter 20): Brownies?**

 *** Better one notable plot twist than a million unremarkable ones.**

 *** Tetherby "tethering" the strings XD**

 *** The umbra auras were fairly underutilized in this story, weren't they? Maybe I should give them the proper spotlight-I'm getting ahead of myself again, dang it!**

 *** By future episode I think you mean episode and a half, 'cause that's pretty much all we have left here. Unless you want a bonus episode. Want a bonus episode?**

 **And now, to the chapter...**

* * *

The once clear skies darkened as the flying laboratory flew over to Royal Woods, positioning itself so it would cover the sun.

"Greetings, citizens of Royal Woods!"

All the citizens looked up to see the laboratory cover the sky, with a figure shadowed by the sun's light behind them, making the citizens ponder just who the heck was talking to them.

The Loud sisters, as well as Girl Jordan's group and Gemini and Divisu, stood on top of the tallest skyscraper in the city, allowing them to have a better look at who was speaking: It was Tetherby, with the project's coccoon in plain view.

"It has been a long, stressing journey for you citizens and the auras that protect you alike," Tetherby spoke as the project's coccoon began to pulsate. "But don't worry, once this little thing over here has been opened, all your worries will be removed!"

Tetherby's eyes glew.

"Because all of Royal Woods shall be wiped off the map!"

The citizens panicked, though this barely fazed the camel-donkey.

"Oh, don't freak out, I'm going to give you a chance to abort the entire catastrophe: this coccoon here has been weakened, when it would take everything and the kitchen sink, now a normal attack should make it crack a little. So, I invite all auras in the city to attack this thing with all their might! They might just be able to stop the apocalypse."

Tetherby cackled to himself as he walked into the laboratory, and kept walking until her reached a boardroom, where the other members of the board also sat down.

"I still don't see what was the point of telling the auras to come attack the coccoon," the cat-like board member spoke. "If they do destroy it and the apocalypse is averted, the entire project will be rendered for naught."

"It's something called reverse psychology," Tetherby answered. "That's been reverse engineered to our benefit, of course."

"What do you mean?"

"Hehehe... you'll see."

* * *

Back outside, the coccoon kept pulsating as several lux auras jumped towards it, at least for the short-range ones, the long-ranged ones simply attacked it from the rooftops repeatedly.

And indeed, just like how Tetherby had said, what the coccoon could've earlier shrugged off with little issue now seemed to be causing actual cracks on it. But while most

Especially the Loud siblings.

"Why are we just standing here, doing nothing?" Lola asked as she took out her whip. "Shouldn't we be heading there and help the other auras destroy that thing?"

"Shouldn't you be able to see how blatant this setup is?"

The siblings and the group turned around to see the one who said that was none other than Leni, who got angry looks from half of them, surprised looks from some of them, and exactly a happy look from one of them: Lily.

"Huh, I was wondering when were you going to show up," Luan remarked. "Where were you these past few weeks?"

"That's not important right now," Leni stated. "What's important is that we need to stop those auras from attacking the coccoon."

"What?!"

"Let me guess, Tetherby's declaration to have all lux auras attack that thing is literally nothing more than a ploy?" Lori asked, folding her arms. "The more the thing is attacked, the more and more energy it'll get, until it finally bursts out of it to attack everyone?"

"Well... yeah," Leni summoned her strings. "Now, if you could do something about those auras, like, I don't know, fight them, that would be helpful."

Lily nodded and immediately jumped off to chase after the rampaging auras, with the rest of the sisters exchanging nods before they went to stop the other auras.

 _We should do something too._ Divisu remarked. _But what?_

Gemini looked around to see if there was something about the city that required the help from a pair of furry pricks, until he spotted a blurred figure stopping some of the auras from going to attack the coccoon.

 _I think I have an idea._

* * *

The figure, this one being Clyde, landed safely on the ground while the auras he had stopped, these being Darcy and Paige, hit the ground.

"Why did you do that?!" Darcy whined.

"I'm sorry, but the more you attack that thing, the worse the situation will get!" Clyde stated. "I can't let you attack that thing with that in mind!"

"Well from what I can see, doing nothing won't help the situation either!" Paige stated sternly. "The guy told us to attack that thing with all we got-!"

"-As a ploy! He's tricking you into helping him get that thing to come out faste!" Clyde answered. "If you attack it long enough, the coccoon will break, and then whatever's inside that thing will come out and destroy everything!"

 _He's right._

The trio turned around and saw Gemini and Divisu landing on the ground.

"Lincoln..." Clyde said with a slight smile.

 _Knowing Tetherby, he must have rigged the coccoon to release the project within once it's been hurt enough!_ Gemini stated while Divisu took her leave. _Why else would he allow the project to stay out in plain view where everybody can attack it?!_

Paige looked back at the coccoon, and quickly connecting the dots, she realized the creature was more than likely right. But even if that was the case... "What do we do, then?"

"Get the citizens to a safe area out of Royal Woods; it seems they're more than happy to stand still looking dumbfounded," Clyde answered as she took out his light sword. "When you're done with the evacuation, come help me stop the other auras from continuing the attack!"

Clyde jumped away to continue the efforts to stop the assault on the coccoon, while Gemini ran off to evacuate his own share of civillians before Darcy and Paige exchanged nods and did the same.

* * *

The Loud sisters had separated, taking on a cople of lux auras at a time to stop them from helping the project come out of its seal.

In particular, Luna and Luan had joined forces with Becky and Dana in order to better their chances at repelling the attacking auras.

"Are you sure you shouldn't be part of the civillians evacuating Royal Woods?" Luna asked, throwing a raised eyebrow at Becky. "I mean, you only turned back from an Eclipse a week or so ago, right?"

"A month ago, actually, and I'm still both surprised and disappointed it was so easy to turn us back," Becky answered as she swung her sword, the force sending some auras flying away. "But you got nothing to worry about: Dana and I aren't going to fall through the same mistakes we did before."

Luan frowned. "That's not the only thing that worries us."

Suddenly, an explosion happened nearby, sending some auras flying away. Everybody turned around to see the cause of the explosion was none other than Dana, who now sported a turquoise aura uniform while also holding a couple explosives at hand.

"And that makes five!" Dana stated with a hint of pride. "That's the current biggest number of auras I've managed to blow away!"

"Yeah, listen, Dana, we're happy you're so enthusiastic about helping us repel the auras, but you could be a little more careful where you throw those things?" Luan inquired with a concerned smile. "I mean, you did just become a lux aura in time for the apocalypse, so it would be better if you were more... careful, you know?"

"Yeah, I know, but can you blame me?" Dana asked as she saw some lux auras jumping nearby. "There's so many lux auras and they're working so fast, I don't have time to be careful!"

Dana threw some bombs at the auras. "If we slack off for even a second, a dozen or so of them will get to the coccoon!"

"Which is why I warned you not to accept Gemini's deal to become a lux aura!" Luan said. "Just because you could finally become a lux aura after so long didn't mean you had to do it!"

Luan reached for her back and took out a pie just before a lux aura lunged at her, throwing the pie right at her to cause her to fall back on the ground. "Especially when you do it just as things are at their most hectic!"

Becky swung her sword again, sending some lux auras flying away. "We can talk about thoughtless decisions later, for now, we need to focus on repelling these auras back!"

* * *

Meanwhile, with Girl Jordan and her group, the team had a bit of an easier time keeping the auras from reaching the coccoon, if only because they could actually fight from a distance: Girl Jordan shot her arrows and shot her finger gun every once in a while, Joy extended her staff and swung it around, Mollie flapped her wings, the resulting wind forcing the auras to go away, even Kat threw her hammer at some of the girls, calling it back with a whistle and an extended hand.

However, even their long-ranged advantage didn't work against the sheer numbers of the auras. Or maybe the numbers weren't the problem, but their persistance.

"Ugh, there's so many of them!" Joy growled. "No matter how often I swing my staff at them, more keeping coming at it!"

"At this rate, we're going to get overrun eventually!" Mollie exclaimed, smacking some auras away with her wings. "There has to be something we can do to put them on hold!"

"We can do nothing but continue repeling them!" Kat stated, narrowing her eyes. "Even if we end up overrun regardless, we need to make sure we buy enough time to think of something!"

Upon hearing that, Girl Jordan got an idea and shot an aura away. "Girl, can I trust you to keep these auras occupied?"

"Going by our track record as fighters, I doubt it," Joy cynically answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Kat said herself: we may end up being overrun regardless," Girl Jordan shot an aura right behind her. "If that's going to happen, we should better be close to lux auras who'll willing help us achieve the twilight aura forms."

With that said, Girl Jordan jumped away, leaving her group to stand their ground however they could.

* * *

Lily, meanwhile, slammed her mace down the ground repeatedly, causing the ground to shake hard enough to disorient and cause some auras to fall on their butts, while some others managed to jump away just in time, forcing Lily to throw her mace at one of them.

As soon as it returned to her, however, the auras got back up and jumped away, leaving Lily on the ground to catch her breath.

"Something tells me I might need some help."

Luckily, help she got, as a whip grabbed the auras and a bunch of slashes cut them back into their normal forms before dropping them on the ground. The whip and slashes of course came from the duo of Lola and Lana.

"Lola! Lana!" Lily chirped.

"Why did you run off like that, Lily?!" Lola asked as the twins walked up to the girl. "You should know that in something as crazy as this, going alone at it is a terrible idea!"

"I-I know, but, I just couldn't stand still and do nothing!" Lily replied. "The longer we do nothing, the more that coccoon could be destroyed and release whatever will destroy Royal Woods!"

"So you chose to go try to repel the auras alone?" Lana pointed out with a concerned look. "Why not look for someone who can help you first? Don't you have someone who can team up with you?"

"She does have one."

The girls turned around and saw Girl Jordan land nearby, flashing a smile.

"Girl Jordan!" Lily chirped. "What are you doing here? Weren't you going to try repel the auras with your own group?"

"We were doing that, but once Kat brought up a good point, I decided to come look for you," Girl Jordan sighed as she walked to the aged up toddler's side. "We're going to need to be together in order to become twilight auras, after all."

"Why?" Lola asked. "What did your friend say that convinced you to ditch them?"

"That with so many auras with equally vast determination, being overrun is something that'll happen no matter what," Girl Jordan sighed. "So, the best thing to do is pair up with some lux auras or umbra auras to become twilight auras for when the project is unleashed."

"Then, maybe you could also go up to the laboratory and try to find the guy who brought up the coccoon to the auras?" Lola asked, pointing at the laboratory in the sky. "And if you could destroy him too, that would be good."

"You might want to bring some people as long as well, though, who knows what might be inside that place," Lana slashed at an incoming aura. "Not us, though, we need to stay here and try to help repel the other auras."

"Got it," Lily nodded. "Thanks for the help."

With that said, the twins left to help evacuate whoever remained behind, and the pair were joined by Gemini and Divisu soon after.

"Lincoln, Lisa," Lily remarked, raising an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

 _We heard you were going to go up to the laboratory to try and be the first to attack the project once it hatched._ Gemini answered. _But even with your arrows and jumping from roof to roof, it's unlikely you'll be able to reach the laboratory on your own, so we called someone for help._

Leni jumped down soon after, earning. "I know neither of you trust me, but you're going to need as much help as you can if you're planning to face that thing head-on. Besides, I'm the only who can take you, unless the winged friend of Girl Jordan is available."

Girl Jordan grumbled. "She's holding the line with the rest of the team."

"Then that does it," Leni summoned her strings. "Let's get to the laboratory."

* * *

Once there, Girl Jordan, Lily, Leni, Gemini, and Divisu ran into the building, taking a quick glance at the coccoon before they continued to run depeer into the laboratory.

The place, instead of looking dirty and barely functional, now looked almost the same way it did as before: the lights were on, the hallways were completely clean, the only thing that remained from its abandoned days was that a couple of broken things were still... well, broken.

"Huh, I didn't think Tetherby would bother to fix the place this much," Leni remarked as she took a look around. "I mean, maybe turn the lights back on, but that's about it."

 _Tetherby's a wildcard when it comes to business._ Divisu remarked. _He can quickly come up with an idea and then change it for something else._

 _Besides, who knows what else he's been tampering with since he got here._ Gemini added. _We should be extra careful while we look for him._

"Look for who?"

Everybody turned around and saw Tetherby standing nearby, with the other members of the board standing next to him.

"Tetherby!" Leni exclaimed.

"The one and only: welcome to the wonderful laboratory that brought forth the dreams come true of every young girl!" Tetherby spoke with a mocking tone. "The dream to mindlessly throw away their lives in deadly battles, all to feel better about themselves, until they die the same way they live: fighting for a lost cause."

"That's not what Lincoln and Lisa wanted to do, Tetherby!" Lily snapped at the camel-donkey. "All they wanted to do was try to give themselves meaning by imitating a magical girl show! That was it!"

"Was it really?" Tetherby asked, again with the mocking tone. "Can you really not see beyond the surface, and see that they were only doing this to make themselves feel special? That they wanted to feel like they mattered at the expense of everybody else?"

Lily flinched. "They-"

" _They_ were the ones who decided to treat this entire thing as if it was a game. All I did was grant them the technology to make that a nightmarish reality," "Everything else can be solely blamed on them: the auras, both lux and umbra alike; the shadows emergence; the eclipses: everything is their fault."

The ground shook.

"And soon, everybody will get front seats to witness what they've created."

"This project could destroy all of Royal Woods!" Lily exclaimed. "Don't you care about the fact you'll be destroying a city and leaving hundreds of people without homes?"

"I'm no longer human, kid, do you really think I'll care about a species that I'm not?" the ground shook again. "Anyhow, you should probably go outside and get prepared to pick the fate of Royal Woods."

Seeing no point in arguing with the donkey-camel any longer, the team ran back outside, leaving Tetherby and his board to get ready to abandon the city to its fate.

The ground shook once again as the team arrived to see some auras attacking the cracking coccoon, the cracks growing bigger and bigger even after the auras stopped attacking it.

Eventually, the coccoon cracked, and from within a pillar of light emerged as a figure flew out of the coccoon, which was annihilated by the pillar as it grew stronger, landing right at the sky and vanishing, except for the orb left behind.

For the auras that remained behind, and the people who were still down, the figure soon revealed themselves to be... a twilight aura, or at least someone who wore the twilight aura uniform. They also had a purple-yellow scarf wrapped around their neck.

Not only that, but her figure resembled an odd mix between, of all people, Lily and Girl Jordan: a face like Girl Jordan, but the soft texture of Lily.

"So that is the project," Lily remarked. "But... what exactly are they?"

"It's Dawning Dusk," Leni answered. "A "natural" Twilight Aura born from the combination of your and Girl Jordan's DNA."

Lily and Girl Jordan exchanged shocked looks.

"Wait, so she's a mix between me and Girl Jordan?!" Lily asked in disbelief.

"Okay, I'll just buy the theory that you had some of Lily's DNA nearby, since she's your sister and all that," Girl Jordan blushed and clenched her fists as she turned to look at Gemini. "But how the heck did you get my DNA!?"

 _Lisa got the DNA, not me._ Gemini responded, throwing a look at Divisu soon after. _And I asked her, but she refused to give me an answer._

Divisu lowered her head. _No comment._

Dawning Dusk looked down at the auras that were fighting her coccoon a moment ago, and annoyed by their irrelevance, she spread her arms and unleashed a wind that sent them flying away. And they weren't the only ones: Leni, Gemini, and Divisu were also thrown off the laboratory, leaving Girl Jordan and Lily behind.

"Guys!" Lily exclaimed.

"Hmm..."

Lily and Girl Jordan turned to Dawning Dusk and summoned their weapons, the experiment raising an eyebrow at them. "So you remained... interesting..."

"She can talk?" Girl Jordan asked.

The girl turned to look at the pair. "Are you two the ones whose DNA was used to make me?"

Girl Jordan and Lily exchanged confused looks before they nodded in agreement.

"Well, I guess I have a lot to thank you for then," Dawning Dusk smiled. "Of course, I'm afraid that right now, we're enemies. So I have to get rid of you."

Girl Jordan and Lily grabbed hands, transformed into twilight auras, and aimed their cannon at the barely-fazed Dawning Dusk.

"Getting rid of us isn't as easy as you think!"

The girls shot a cannon ball filled with a bunch of explosive arrows, as well as other kinds of damaging arrows, at Dawning Dusk, covering her in a large cloud of smoke as that sole attack reverted the girls back to their normal aura forms.

"You're right: it's not as easy as I thought..."

Girl Jordan and Lily gripped their weapons with whatever strength they had left as she spread her arms wide, summoning a wind that part the cloud away.

"It's even easier."

Dawning Dusk extended her hand forward, and another wind struck, though the pair managed to stay their ground a second time. Dawning Dusk didn't exactly approve of this, so she aimed her hands forward, and the pair gained a purple and yellow aura around them as they were lifted and held in place.

Dawning Dusk then opened her mouth, and the auras were absorbed right into it, slowly.

"W-Wait, what are you doing?!" Lily exclaimed, trying to break free from the aura. "Gemini didn't tell us ab-ah... aba-ba-"

Girl Jordan looked at Lily with concern as both their weapons vanished, and in Lily's case, she was surrounded by light and her form contorted into a smaller one as Girl Jordan's uniform was surrounded by light, and turned into her normal clothes.

Once both auras were absorbed, Girl Jordan was dropped first, and she quickly ran up to catch Lily, who had been returned to her infant form.

"What did you do, Dawning Dusk!?" Girl Jordan snapped. Even the absurdity of the name couldn't detract from her anger.

"I absorbed the essences of your aura powers into my own, to grow even stronger and make sure there are less auras to deal with," Dawning Dusk smirked. "And now that you're normal people once again..."

Dawning Dusk blew the wind once again, this time doing so hard enough to send Girl Jordan and Lily flying all the way out of Royal Woods, almost crashing on the ground before a figure grabbed them and safely put them on the ground, among the evacuated people.

This figure turned out to be Mrs. Johnson, who helped the duo stand up once they were safe. "Are you two alright?!"

"Yeah, but Dawning Dusk took our aura powers," Girl Jordan replied. "We have to return to Royal Woods and get them back before she-!"

Just then, a sound was heard, and everybody turned around to see the light sphere from the pillar expanding across the city, covering it in a transparent shield. Seeing this, Girl Jordan and Lily exchanged looks before they nodded and the former ran as fast as she could towards the city, Mrs. Johnson looking at her for a moment before she calmly followed her.

The girls ran as fast as they could, but just as they reached the city limits, the shield completely surrounded the city, the duo stopping barely in time before they crashed right into it.

Not giving up, Girl Jordan put Lily down and they tried punching the dome, hoping they could at least make a little crack on it, but no matter how much they hit it, nothing happened. A fact they didn't realize until Mrs. Johnson reached them, put a hand on their shoulder, and shook her head.

It was at this point the girls knew, they were stuck outside, hopeless to watch as Dawning Dusk continued her assault.


	22. Episode XI: Dawning Dusk (Part 2)

**Now, this might come a bit unexpectedly, but I'm confident that the next two chapters will be completed by either next week, or the week up from there. Besides, I owed to you a complete episode in one week after spending so long without updating anything.**

 **Anyway, next episode will be the final one. And there's quite a lot of stuff ready for it, so try not to lose your minds when it's posted.**

 **Now, let's reply to some reviews:**

 **1) Nobody245: Dawning Dusk is just an edgy name given to the creature by Lisa, hoping it would make her seem more epic and threatening. It probably failed. XD**

 **2) ChernoMan: I see.**

 *** Technically I'm partially at fault here too, because things aren't going as smoothly over at my house as I'd like, and I would like this story to end so I can just focus on cor, whenever that ends up updating. So, don't carry all the blame yourself.**

 *** Being able to develop a character who was introduced only last episode, and is NOT the main character-who as we all know is either a piece of sentient TV static or a black hole that absorbs all character development from other characters-is kind of an achievement.**

 *** Also, Lilydan for the win, am I right? XD**

 *** Give Tetherby a fairly well-constructed argument, of course! XD**

 *** Don't you mean power rangers? Then again, Tokusatsu is Japanese Power Rangers, so... Also, from my experience, most antagonists in magical girl shows tend to be either cardboard cutouts of pure evil, or have some connection with the heroes, but no direct relation to them outside of maybe an evil sibling. So yeah, I guess Dawning Dusk is a Tokusatsu villain in a magical girl story XD.**

 *** Not as weird as this story's mythos.**

 **And now, to the chapter!**

* * *

Back where we left off, Dawning Dusk had successfully closed Royal Woods with a dome made of light energy, trapping whoever was left inside with it. Luckily, however, everybody who remained behind were seemingly the lux auras, umbra auras, and the plushie creatures like Gemini and Divisu.

And the last part reminded Dawning Dusk of a certain group, a group that was responsible for her creation. She turned around, and saw the board group fleeing from the laboratory with wings spread on their back.

Not having the time nor interest in pondering how the creatures gained wings in the first place, Dawning Dusk summoned an aura similar to Girl Jordan and Lily's and morphed a giant hand out of it, using the fingers as tractor beams to catch the creatures and take them right back to her.

"W-Wait, what's going on!?" Tetherby exclaimed before he turned to look at Dawning Dusk. "What do you think you're doing, Dawning Dusk!?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Dawning Dusk answered with a smug tone. "I was built to be the very example of a magical girl antagonist. And what better way to start with that, than by backstabbing the people who created me?!"

Dawning Dusk clenched her fists and one by one, the plushies slowly withered and deflated, turning back into lifeless husks as Dawning Dusk absorbed their very beings. Tetherby, of course, was the last one to be absorbed, with him flailing around helplessly as he felt his essence being absorbed by the artificial creature.

Once the entire board had been absorbed, Dawning Dusk released their husks and enjoyed the taste of the board's screams as the husks landed right next to Clyde, Paige, and Darcy, getting their attention.

"What are these things?" Paige asked as the trio checked the items. "Plushies without filler?"

"Hey, I have toys like these back at home!" Darcy chirped as she grabbed one of the husks and lifted it. "They're not deflated like these ones, though."

 _Drop those right now!_

Darcy and Paige obliged as Gemini, Divisu, and Leni entered the picture. "Those are the husks of the board!"

"The board?" Clyde folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

 _Long story short, those are the plushie bodies of a group of people who collaborated with us to create Dawning Dusk, who eventually betrayed us when we wanted this to just stop._ Divisu explained as she walked up to the husks. _We would give you the long story, but there's currently an apocalyptic situation happening right now!_

Clyde looked up, and winced. "And it's about to get even worse."

Everybody looked up as a laboratory-shaped shadow loomed over their spot, the shadow growing slightly bigger as they realized what was happening.

"Don't tell me that mad girl..." Leni said under her breath as she looked up. "She's going to throw the laboratory to the ground!"

"Can't you do something about it?!" Clyde exclaimed in a panic. "Like hold that place back or something?!"

"Even if I could do that, I wouldn't be able to do it for long!" Leni frowned, then got an idea. "The citizens were evacuated, right?"

 _Yes, all the citizens and some lux auras evacuated the city an hour ago._ Gemini explained. _Right now, it should be the six of us, the rest of my sister, along with any other lux aura that chose to stay behind!_

"Then we should better regroup with them!" Clyde stated, getting nods of approval from everybody else. "And we better do it before that thing falls on us!"

Everybody ran away as Dawning Dusk pushed the laboratory forward, giving it the final... well, push, to send it crashing into the city square, though it did so slowly enough to give anybody who was still there a chance to escape.

Once far away from the collision point, the group were blown away as the laboratory crashed right on the city square, and caused a flaming explosion that could be seen even from outside the dome.

This sight caused everybody to gasp in shock, although the most shocked ones of all were Girl Jordan and Lily, who remained at the edge of the dome and looked at the explosion with utter shock.

Mrs. Johnson, who was with them, remained calm. "There's nothing to worry about."

"There's _nothing_ to _worry_ about!?" Girl Jordan repeated, sounding utterly furious. "There was a giant explosion at the city square, and you think there's nothing to be worried about!?"

"The laboratory fell slowly enough to give everybody a chance to escape the impact," Mrs. Johnson explained. "And besides, nearly every other lux aura was blown away when the creature first appeared, and after seeing her in action, I bet they've be paralyzed in shock until she launched the laboratory at them."

Lily crawled up to Mrs. Johnson and spoke a bunch of baby gibberish at her, only earning a sincere, "I'm sorry, I don't speak baby." from the woman.

"I don't speak it either, but I can tell she's angry you're acting so cold right now!" Girl Jordan replied as she grabbed Lily and lifted her. "Aren't you concerned for everybody still in there!?"

"Everybody still inside is either a lux or umbra aura, people who can defend themselves," Mrs. Johnson stated as she folded her arms behind her back and looked back at the explosion. "And besides, this is all part of the general structure of a magical girl adventure."

Girl Jordan and Lily's eyes widened. "How would you know that?"

"Magical girl shows have been going on for a long time now, and I was there when they were still just simple stories about growing up," Mrs. Johnson took a deep breath before she turned around and walked a couple steps. "Nowadays, they're filled with despair, pessimism, and just a straight up mockery of what they once stood by."

"Don't tell me you're going to go on a rant over how everything was better back in your day," Girl Jordan said, with Lily clasping her hands and nodding with desperate agreement.

The woman stopped on her tracks and turned back to the girls, sporting an "are you serious?" look. "You two have been in combat for longer than I have. You yourselves have faced off against Shadows, their cores, the Eclipses; everything I could say in my rant, you have already experienced it."

Mrs. Johnson walked back to the duo and put a hand on Girl Jordan's shoulder. "And now, we're experiencing one of the most important parts of any story: "the darkest time."

Girl Jordan raised an eyebrow, and as the woman explained what she meant, Dawning Dusk flew down to the ruins of the destroyed laboratory, looking around at the disturbed lux auras standing around, witnessing the wreckage.

Among these auras were Paige and Darcy, the latter clinging to the former's arm as she narrowed her eyes and glared at Dawning Dusk.

"A time where the heroes have lost, where the villains have finally gotten a crucial upper hand against them. Hope seems lost, despair seems to be ready to take a couple steps forward to crush whatever remained, and let the villains be victorious."

Dawning Dusk smirked at the auras, and with the fiery background of the laboratory's ruins, she aimed her hand forward, and gestured them to come at her.

"But as the villains grow ever so prideful, believing they have finally won and that nothing else could ruin their victorious moment,"

Leni, Gemini, Divisu, and Clyde jumped up to the tallest scyscraper in Royal Woods, where they found the remaining Loud sisters watching the wreckage.

"The heroes regroup, heal their wounds, and get prepared to unleash a comeback so powerful, the villains will suffer a crushing a defeat, and hope will triumph once more."

And back with Mrs. Johnson and the girls, she stood up and took a deep breath. "Sadly, before that time comes, we need to wait until we gain the chance to do it. Until then, we can only wait. It's not like any of us can get through the dome at our current state."

Girl Jordan turned back to the dome, and exchanging concerned looks with Lily, she hugged the baby harder.

* * *

"I'm glad you were far away when the laboratory fell down," Lori said as she helped Leni, Clyde, and the plushies stand up. "Are you okay?"

"Slightly exhausted from fighting all those lux auras," Leni answered, taking a deep breath. "But besides that, we're fine."

"We're tired of fighting the lux auras too," Lucy spoke, stretching a bit. "We went all the way up here once we couldn't fight anymore to try and regain our strength before things got worse."

"But we took too long and now that humanoid... thing is out," Lynn added. "At least the lux auras have something else to fight other than us."

 _Sadly, it's not a fight they can win._ Divisu shook her head regretfully. _As you probably saw from here, Dawning Dusk absorbed the aura powers of Girl Jordan and Lily, rendering them powerless, and went on to absorb the aura of Tetherby and his group, making her even stronger._

"Those plushie creatures were Tetherby and some people affiliated with him?" Lori asked, scratching her head. "I thought that creature had literally found a way to unlock a portal to the Twilight World."

 _Assuming the creatures in that world had little to no aura, that would've been a better option._ Gemini remarked. _But Tetherby and his group were... special, in the worst way possible. The aura of an actual living being, and a living being who has little to no interest in people other than itself, is a recipe for disaster._

Gemini turned back to see Dawning Dusk fighting some of the lux auras, including Paige, who wielded a yo-yo. _I would be lying if I said I wasn't happy Tetherby got backstabbed by his own creation, but I would've preferred if he had been backstabbed without giving Dawning Dusk more power in the process._

"Okay, pause," Lynn said, raising her hand. "Before you say anything else, could you give us a summary of what's going on? We've been resting for a while, so we've missed a lot, I think."

 _Sure, but as long as Dawning Dusk isn't distracted, there's the chance she could take advantage of us being sitting ducks right now..._ Gemini replied, only to get an idea. _Clyde, could you try and keep Dawning Dusk occupied?_

"I can try, but I can't promise I'll be able to do much," Clyde replied as he got ready to jump back into the fray. "At most, I think I'll be able to buy you five minutes."

 _That should be good enough,_ Divisu spoke. _Just be sure not to give her any hints of your tricks!_

"Don't worry, I won't."

With that said, Clyde went jumping back to the battlefield, and the creatures began explaining what happened to the sisters...

* * *

Paige swung her yo-yo at Dawning Dusk, who easily caught it and pulled it forward, sending Paige flying towards the creature, at least until Darcy jumped out and threw a giraffe balloon at Dawning Dusk... barely doing anything to the creature besides confusing her.

This, however, allowed Paige to kick her in the face just as she reached her, causing Dawning Dusk to release the yo-yo and back away into fighting another lux aura, giving Paige and Darcy a moment to rest.

"Your weapons are animal balloons?" Paige asked incredulously. "And not magical balloons that explode or something, but just normal, animal-themed balloons?"

"I know, right?" Darcy chirped. "I got the best weapon ever!"

Paige sighed and brushed Darcy's hair. "Yeah, you more or less do."

Then, an aura was sent flying right by Paige and Darcy, before she was surrounded by a glowing aura before she was thrown away, the dome briefly opening a hole to allow her to come out, and land on Mrs. Johnson's hand.

"What's she doing?" Darcy asked.

"It looks like she's getting rid of any aura that fails to give her a decent challenge," Paige explained as she watched Dawning Dusk throw away some more auras. "Which means that if we don't manage to make her flinch, we'll be next."

Just as Dawning Dusk got ready to throw some more auras through the dome, Clyde fell down and swung his light sword, with Dawning Dusk looking at him for a moment before she reached for her back, and took out a pitch black sword that clashed with the light sword.

"What?!" Clyde exclaimed. "You have a sword too?!"

"Oh please, don't tell me this comes as a shock to you," Dawning Dusk replied, rolling her eyes. "If there's a light sword, it's only logical for there to be a dark sword as well."

"I'm not shocked at the fact the dark sword exists," Clyde clarified as he tried to gain the upper hand. "I'm shocked about the fact you're the one who has it!"

However, even with his full strength, Dawning Dusk overpowered Clyde and sent him flying towards Paige and Darcy, only for the boy to quickly catch his momentum and plant the sword on the ground, allowing him to stop just before he crashed into the girls.

"Clyde!" Paige exclaimed with relief. "I'm glad to see you're okay."

"And I'm happy you and Darcy are okay too," Clyde replied as he took the sword off the ground. "Were you holding up fine?"

"Yeah, we were fighting her fine on our own. Although, granted, the other lux auras fighting that thing while we rested also helped a little," Paige replied before she looked sternly at Dawning Dusk. "She's a bit less patient than we thought, though: if we don't make sure to give her a decent fight, she'll use her aura powers to throw us out of here!"

"Well, you got some help for that, though I need to ask for your help in return," Clyde stated as he unsheathed his light sword. "Gemini asked me to give the Loud sisters some more time to prepare for a big comeback."

Darcy blew another animal balloon into existence, and Paige spun her yo-yo around. "If it's to get rid of her, consider it done."

Dawning Dusk, for her part, was quite amused at the fact the trio seemed ready to fight her. "I see, so you want to face me with a sword, a yo-yo, and balloons. Honestly, it makes you wonder what Lincoln and Lisa were thinking when they made these weapons."

Suddenly, Dana threw some bombs at Dawning Dusk, followed by Becky jumping in to slash her once the bombs exploded right on her face. However, not only did Dawning Dusk slash the smoke cloud to bits, only looking slightly bruised from the attack, but she easily blocked Becky's attack.

"Then again, fighting a a few decent combatants might be better than a hundred people with nary an idea of what they're doing," Dawning Dusk remarked with slight exasperation. "So, if you don't mind..."

The dark sword was surrounded by the same aura as Becky and Dana, with the girls being lifted off the ground as she slightly lifted the sword.

"Go away!"

Dawning Dusk swung the sword, sending Becky and Dana through the dome and into the outside world... or that would've been the case, had a certain pair known as Luna and Luan not caught the duo before they left, carrying them on their arms bridal style until they reunited with the rest of the Loud sisters.

"Thanks for the save," Dana said as Luan and Luna put her and Becky on the ground. "We were hoping to catch her off-guard with some explosives and a sword swing, but it looks like she's not so easy to fool."

"It's okay, girls, you're safe now," Luan said, patting Dana's back. "For the moment, at least."

"That being said, though, why did she throw away the lux auras she grew bored of?" Luan asked, scratching her chin. "Surely she knows there are other lux auras around, and she can absorb an aura's power: wouldn't she try to do the same with every other aura around?"

"Dawning Dusk has already absorbed Lily and Girl Jordan's aura powers," Leni answered as she looked sternly at the artificial entity. "She more than likely doesn't care about absorbing anybody else's powers; she'll want to get rid of as many of us as possible."

"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Becky stated as she steadied her sword. "Let's go teach her a lesson!"

"How?!" Dana asked, stopping Becky in place. "Not only does she have her own power, but she also absorbed the powers of a lux and umbra aura, and already threw a freaking laboratory to the ground!"

"Dana's right! Not to mention the fact she literally just tried to throw you out of the dome!" Lori stated, folding her arms. "If we're going to fight this creature, we need to think of a plan first."

"And if we're going to think of a plan, we're going to need more time," Luna added.

 _But Clyde said he only could give us five minutes tops._ Gemini said, lowering his head. _Even if it's enough time to come up with a decent plan, we might not be able to implement it before Dawning Dusk attacks-_

"And that's where we come in!"

Everybody turned around and saw Mollie flying towards them and landing in the middle of the rooftop, carrying Kat on her back and Joy on her arms.

"Wait a minute, you're Girl Jordan's group!" Leni remarked as Joy and Kat got off and dusted themselves. "Shouldn't you, like, be with Girl Jordan or something?!"

"Right, because we obviously knew she was shot out of Royal Woods," Kat rolled her eyes. "We were busy taking care of the assaulting lux auras, we didn't have time to go after her before the dome came down."

"And even if we had enough time to, that would just mean we'd be stuck outside and you'd have even less people to help you with that creature," Joy pointed out. "You should be happy we remained behind."

"And don't get us wrong, we're happy that some more auras we know are still around," Lynn said. "It's just that the more we look at it, the less progress it seems we're making at defeating that thing."

Joy walked to the edge of the building and looked at Dawning Dusk swordfighting Clyde in the distance, all while Paige and Darcy helped him, and some of the auras nearby tried attacking the creature. "They seem to be in a stalemate to me."

 _Yes, but it's not a stalemate that will last forever._ Divisu said, shaking her head. _Once the stalemate is over, it'll be up to us to weaken Dawning Dusk enough to let Lily and Girl Jordan deal the final blow._

"Wait, what?" Lucy inquired in disbelief. "Lily and Girl Jordan had their powers absorbed by that creature, remember? How are _they_ supposed to do the final blow?"

 _Well-_

Suddenly, the sounds of several auras screaming was heard, prompting everybody to turn around and witness the auras, Darcy and Paige included, surrounded in... well, auras, as they were suspended high in the air, helpless to do anything.

"Yep, that's our signal to go help Clyde!" Kat stated as she and Joy grabbed Mollie's hands. "You make up your mind about what you'll do and get ready to do it!"

Before the sisters could say anything, Mollie spread her wings and the trio jumped off the building, Mollie carrying Kat and Joy as they summoned their weapons and they flew across the sea of levitated auras towards the swordfighting duel between Clyde and Dawning Dusk.

"If you don't mind me asking," Clyde spoke as he and the creature clashed their swords repeatedly. "Why did you decide to lift the auras all of a sudden?!"

"Isn't it obvious? After the redhead and her volatile friend nearly interrupted us, my patience grew thinner as the other auras refused to let us have a simple swordfighting duel," Dawning Dusk replied with a casual tone. "So, I made sure they wouldn't interrupt us again!"

One more clash later, Dawning Dusk overpowered Clyde and sent him dashing a few feet, getting ready to lunge at him before she was struck by Kat's hammer. This made her turn around and see the approaching members of Girl Jordan's group, with Kat summoning more hammers to throw at her.

Clyde smiled. "Looks like you missed a few."

Dawning Dusk gritted her teeth and dodged the hammer while she threw some of the levitating auras at the trio, doing this until Clyde quickly ran up to her and began swinging his light sword repeatedly, thus forcing her to focus on him as the hammers kept raining.

With one too many hammers to the head, Dawning Dusk finally snapped and shot all of the levitating auras at the trio, getting the auras to go out the dome while also hopping the pestering trio would be taken out with them.

She still somehow missed the group, a fact that enraged her as Mollie dropped Kat and Joy and they all took a battle stance. Dawning Dusk glared at the trio before she glanced back at Clyde, who got ready to swing his sword once again.

And as both sides ran towards her, Dawning Dusk's eyes glew purple and yellow as she gripped her sword harder, and fought back.

She swung her sword just in time to block Clyde's sword and Kat's hammer, while Joy joined with Mollie to fly and use her staff from afar: she extended it towards Dawning Dusk, and repeatedly smacked her with it, dodging the swords and angering her enough to make her ignore Kat, letting the hammer-wielding aura to swing it right to her face, sending her crashing into a building.

There was little time to celebrate, however, as Dawning Dusk jumped out of the building and split a piece off the dark sword, which regenerated quickly. The small piece she took quickly morphed into a rather familiar dark arrow.

"That's one of Girl Jordan's basic arrows!" Joy exclaimed.

The arrow sprouted wings, and Dawning Dusk stabbed herself with it, sprouting dark wings she flapped to fly towards Joy and Mollie, the latter throwing the former to the sky before she flapped her wings forward, creating a current of wind that disoriented Dawning Dusk long enough for Joy to extend her staff and hit Dawning Dusk with it.

Just as it seemed she would fall down, however, Dawning Dusk grabbed the top of the staff and regained her momentum as she swung it around, caused Joy to release it, and once she fell right in front of her, she swung the staff hard enough to not only break it in half, but send Joy flying out of the domed city, and right into Mrs. Johnson's arms.

This was followed by Dawning Dusk flying straight to Mollie, and flash a smug smile. "That gust of yours was pretty good, but now let me show you a _real_ gust of wind!"

Dawning Dusk flapped her wings forward, doing so with enough force to send Mollie flying right out of the domed city as well, and into Mrs. Johnson's arms, just as Dawning Dusk's wings dissipated and she fell to Clyde and Kat. However, she took out another piece of the dark sword, and morphed into another familiar kind of arrow: the explosive one.

She threw it to the ground, and Clyde and Kat narrowly dodged the incoming projectile before the explosion sent them flying away, crashing into some tress and buildings.

Dawning Dusk quickly followed this by lunging straight for Kat, but as soon as she swung her sword, Kat ducked the incoming blow and swung her hammer upwards, hitting Dawning Dusk's chin. She dodged the next incoming swing and did another swing, this time hitting Dawning Dusk's gut.

What followed were several swings and clashes between sword and hammer, until the girls found themselves stuck in a stalemate... that is until Dawning Dusk lifted Kate with her aura powers and threw her right out of the domed city.

However, instead of being caught by Mrs. Johnson, Mollie was the one who caught her and safely put her on the ground, right next to Joy, Girl Jordan, Lily and Mrs. Johnson.

"Thanks for that, Mollie," Kat said as she dusted herself. "And Girl Jordan, I'm glad to see you're okay... well, for a given definition of okay."

"I'm glad to see you're fine too," Girl Jordan replied, Lily nodding in agreement. "Joy told me you three went up against Dawning Dusk; is it true?"

Kat nodded. "Once she threw all the other auras out of the city, we joined Clyde in trying to help him defeat Dawning Dusk. We did okay for a while, but she eventually defeated us."

"Of course she did," Girl Jordan rolled her eyes and turned back to the dome. "Isn't there anything we have at our disposal that can defeat her?"

"Actually, we do have one thing, maybe even the thing we just need," Mrs. Johnson answered, before she crouched down and put a hand on Girl Jordan's shoulder. "But, you're going to have to talk with the auras and the citizens."

Girl Jordan and Lily blinked twice. "What are you talking about?"

"Remember when I said earlier that for now, we had to wait until the window of opportunity for a great comeback arrived?" the redhead inquired, earning a nod from the girls. "Well, now's the chance; nearly every lux and umbra aura has been taken out of the city; all you have to do is give a grand speech that'll convince them to join forces to to defeat Dawning Dusk once and for all."

"But I don't have a speech prepared!" Girl Jordan replied. "And besides, what am I supposed to say anyway?!"

"How about the fact that if we don't join forces, Royal Woods will be wiped off the face of the earth?" Joy deadpanly suggested. "Just say whatever comes to mind: but try to say it in a way that'll convince everybody that there's still one more shot at this, and that in order for it to work, we all need to work together."

Girl Jordan hummed to herself as she glanced at the rest of the group, who nodded with encouraging looks. Then she turned to Lily, who gave her the same look and nodded with a big smile. That, seemingly, was enough to convince Girl Jordan, who took a deep breath and nodded as well.

"Alright, let's do this!"

* * *

Clyde slowly stood up from the rubble and grabbed his head, quickly readying his stance as Dawning Dusk calmly walked towards him.

"You still have energy to fight me left?" she asked incredulously. "When are you going to accept that there's not a single chance for you to defeat me?"

"I never thought I could defeat you!" Clyde snapped back, tightening his grip on his sword. "But I knew that if I managed to stall for long enough, the girls would get enough rest to defeat you once and for all!"

With that said, and having no other idea of what to do, Clyde promptly rushed towards Dawning Dusk, who looked fairly unimpressed at this "tactic" of his.

She charged the dark sword with energy and swung it at Clyde, who only narrowly managed to block the attack with the light sword, sending him flying off into a building as the sword split in two.

Once Clyde hit the ground, the upper half of the sword landed next to him, and dissipated into light as he gasped and turned to look at the lower half of the sword, which Dawning Dusk flew to and picked up a moment later.

"Oh wow, you broke it," Dawning Dusk said with a deadpan tone. "Well, this thing won't be useful as a sword anymore. But I'm pretty sure I know how to make use of what's left."

Dawning Dusk reformed her dark sword, and clashed both weapons together, causing them to contort and morph until they reached a combined form: the handle a mix of both swords, while the main blade was the dark sword's blade, with the white sword's blade spiraling on both sides until they reached the top, forming something like a crown.

"What did you do?" Clyde asked in disbelief.

"Behold, the Twilight Sword!" Dawning Dusk proclaimd. "Light and darkness, perfected into one, singular sword form!"

Dawning Dusk aimed the combined sword at Clyde, and charged a grey sphere at its tip, the guy narrowing his eyes defiantly as he growled. However, just as Dawning Dusk shot the beam, a figure flashed past Clyde and took him with her, narrowly dodging the shot.

Once the smoke cleared out and revealed Clyde was nowhere to be seen, Dawning Dusk turned around and saw a certain umbra aura standing up nearby, with the boy on her arms: Lori.

"That was literally way too close," Lori said as she put the boy on the ground. "Are you okay, Clyde?"

"Yeah, but I don't have the light sword anymore," Clyde looked back at Dawning Dusk as she charged another sphere. "Dawning Dusk combined it with her dark sword in order to create some kind of fusion sword!"

"I see... okay then," Lori summoned both her spear and her inner demon, Valravn. "Go to the sidelines and take a rest, we'll take care of Dawning Dusk."

Clyde nodded and ran away, with Dawning Dusk undoing the sphere charge as she looked at the supernatural raven with a surprised look.

"Is that... an inner demon?" the artificial creature inquired, scratching her chin as she leaned a bit closer. "So you're one of the few who have managed to go to the Twilight World and lived? Impressive."

"She's not the only one."

Dawning Dusk turned around and saw Leni standing nearby, her inner demon Arachne levitating above her.

"Leni?" Lori asked.

"I haven't, like, been totes helpful ever since this started," Leni said, generating a pair of "like" and "totes" orbs that hit the ground afterwards. "So, if this is going to be the end of everything, I might as well go out fighting for a good cause, right?"

Lori smiled and nodded, quickly getting back on track when she heard Dawning Dusk laughing out loud.

"Interesting, two inner demons to deal with, but I believe you said "girls" as in plural. So tell me, who are these "girls" you were talking about?"

Lori smiled, and a few seconds later, the rest of the Loud sisters popped into the battlefield, alongside Becky and Dana. "Your aunts, as well as a couple of friends."

Dawning Dusk groaned at the sight of Becky and Dana, but quickly calmed down as she prepared to fight the near-dozen auras. Hopefully, the Loud sisters and co. would make this worth her time...

* * *

Girl Jordan stood in front of the gathering of lux and umbra auras, the citizens standing far behind, and Mrs. Johnson and Girl Jordan's group standing at her side. She gently put Lily on the ground beside her, and took a couple steps forwards before she started, with reassuring looks from the group.

"Lux auras! Umbra auras! I know the situation looks rather bad right now, but before you start arguing among each other, just hear me out: the longer we stay out here, the more that creature will destroy the Royal Woods we all know and love!"

"We already know that!" yelled a random lux aura. "But what are we supposed to do about it!?"

Girl Jordan took a deep breath, and clenched her fist. "We have to work together!"

The auras gasped in unison. "But that's ridiculous!"

"We lux auras were created in order to stop the shadows from overruing Royal Woods!"

"And we umbra auras were created in order to help the shadows do just that! That puts us directly at odds!"

"Look, this isn't about good versus evil, or the roles we all play, or even how we think this should go!" Girl Jordan stomped the ground. "This is about doing what we can in order to prevent the destruction of Royal Woods!"

The auras exchanged conflicted looks.

"Either we throw away this idea that we're supposed to be at each other's throats, and work together to stop that thing from destroying the city, or we stay out here bickering among ourselves until we eventually become homeless!"

The looks turned into frowns as the entire group went silent, and Girl Jordan slowly lost hope...

"I'm with her!"

Everybody gasped as a particular umbra aura walked up to Girl Jordan, gasping even harder when it turned out to be Teri.

"B-But, Mrs. Teri!" a random umbra aura shouted. "Are you really okay with working alongside the enemy?!"

"Right now, we're not enemies," Teri replied. "We're the sole hope for not only Royal Woods, but for the citizens who can't protect themselves."

The auras turned to see the citizens nearby, looking pretty worried themselves.

"While you bicker, the people you're supposed to protect are growing restless: and if we don't do anything, they'll soon grown homeless as well."

Teri walked up to Mrs. Johnson, and they shook hands, transforming into twilight auras in the process.

"What's that form?!" the auras exclaimed in unison.

"It's the twilight aura: it's what happens when a lux aura and an umbra aura join forces and share their power with each other," Girl Jordan spoke, while Lily crawled up to her side. "This this form, we can not only combine our weapons into more effective variations of them, but we can become stronger than we used to be! Maybe even stronger enough to destroy that dome, and give Dawning Dusk the beating she deserves!"

The auras exchanged hopeful looks as Lily stood up and imitated Girl Jordan's movements:

"We have to do this, for our friends! For our families!"

Girl Jordan and Lily raised their arms.

"For Royal Woods!"

The auras cheered in unison before they all began shaking hands and otherwise combining their strength together, until where once lux and umbra auras stood separately, now there were only twilight auras, ready to give it their all for their home.

Then, Girl Jordan grabbed Lily before Mollie spread her wings and put the pair on her back.

"Now, everyone! Let's destroy that dome and defeat Dawning Dusk once and for all!"

* * *

Speaking of Dawning Dusk, the creature stood in the middle of the area, constantly swinging the twilight sword while also shooting charged beams once in a while as the Loud sisters and Becky and Dana furiously attacked with all they had.

Dana threw bombs, Becky swung her sword, and the rest of the sisters swung their bladed or blunt weapons at the creature, until Luan summoned a pie and threw it at the creature, before throwing the rest of her arsenal, kitchen sink included.

Lori and Leni also helped from the sidelines: Arachne caught Dawning Dusk in her threads, while Valravn flew around, disorienting the girl whenever she broke free.

This kept going until Dawning Dusk finally grew tired, and charged the twilight sword before planting it on the ground, unleashing pillars of light that exploded and sent the sisters flying away, their weapons dissipating into light as they hit the ground.

Lori quickly crawled towards and tried to grab her spear, only for it to be shot away by a blast from the sword, dissipating into light soon afterwards.

This was followed by Lori turning around and being met face-to-face with a furious Dawning Dusk, aiming the twilight sword at her. "You didn't have to do this, aunt. You knew there was no way you and your sisters couldn't defeat me-"

"The point of fighting you was never to literally defeat you!"

"Then why bother?" Dawning Dusk lowered the sword. "If you knew there was no way you could defeat me, why still try it anyway?"

Suddenly, everybody heard something in the distance, and as Dawning Dusk looked with horror as small cracks began forming around the top of the dome, Lori smirked and gave a blunt answer:

"Because we were stalling for time."

*CRACK!*


	23. Episode XII: Grand Finale (Part 1)

**Here's the first part of the final episode of Lux-Umbra Magna Auguratricis. It's going to take a little bit to finish the second half of the episode, but once it's over, don't worry, you'll get to witness quite an epic finale.**

 **At least, I hope a lot of anime talk is considered epic XD**

 **Now, let's answer some reviews:**

 **1) Nobody245: And it worked here too, surprisingly enough.**

 **2) ChernoMan: *Is affected by the power of feel-good* Woo! I'm feeling rehabilitated! I'm so totally going to make another magical girl fanfic when this is over!**

 *** Better Town Busters than Planet Busters.**

 *** Now we're heading the "heroes slowly begin to gain the upper hand against the enemy" part. How's that for... I don't know, plot?**

 *** Don't worry, I'm not going to rush anything anymore. I'll make sure everything has a fitting conclusion. Or at least, try to. Just because you don't rush something doesn't mean there will not be stuff you missed.**

 *** Yeah, I thought I should've given you something COR-related after this took my time almost completely.**

 **And now, to the chapter...**

* * *

Back where we left off, the top of the dome cracked completely, the shards falling as over a hundred twilight auras fell from the sky, ready to put an end to Dawning Dusk once and for all.

What truly caught Dawning Dusk's attention, however, was the fact that Girl Jordan and Lily were among the group, being held by a flying Mollie.

"Wait, those two are back?!" she snapped, gripping the twilight sword harder. "What are they thinking!? Have they forgotten that I've absorbed all of their powers?! There's no way they'll be able to survive the ensuing mayhem!"

"Hehehe, getting a little ahead of yourself, don't you think?" Lori asked as she stood up and grabbed her arm. "You may have the power of a twilight aura, as well as Lily and Girl Jordan's powers, but that means literally nothing against over a hundred of twilight auras!"

Dawning Dusk turned back to the twilight auras and aimed the twilight sword as it was surrounded by energy, only to get a shocking surprise when none of the auras were affected. "I can't use telekinesis on them?!"

Lori chuckled some more, and Dawning Dusk swung the twilight sword, with a set of strings narrowly grabbing and pulling Lori away before the attack hit. The strings belonged to Clyde, who waved goodbye before Leni wrapped him and the sisters on her own strings, pulling them away as Dawning Dusk stomped the ground.

"Fine then! If a hundred twilight auras are going to enter the battlefield," Dawning Dusk glanced at the charging twilight sword. "I might as well have an army to keep them occupied!"

* * *

The Loud sisters landed on a rooftop nearby and caught their breath as they looked around to see the sight of dozens of twilight auras falling down and landing on the ground, ready to fight against Dawning Dusk and whatever she planned to do.

"Look at all those twilight auras!" Lola chirped with joy. "Even Dawning Dusk's gonna have trouble fighting all of them!"

"Yeah, looks like things are going to get better from here," Lucy spoke, before she noticed Lynn squinting her eyes at the crowd. "What's wrong, Lynn?"

"I'm trying to see where Girl Jordan and Lily are supposed to be," Lynn answered, still looking at the twilight auras. "I know I'm jumping the gun by thinking that they could be among the twilight auras, but it's worth thinking about it."

"Well, don't get me wrong, but I hope they're not with them," Luna said, putting her arms behind her head. "They've both been depowered and been through enough already-"

"Hey guys!"

Everybody turned around and saw Girl Jordan and Lily arrived with Mollie, the latter dropping the former two once she hit the ground.

"Well, there goes that possibility, Luna," Lynn remarked as she walked to the pair and folded her arms. "So, what exactly did you do in order to gain the help of over a hundred twilight auras?"

"One little motivational speech and a bit of support from one of the umbra auras," Girl Jordan explained while Lily nodded in agreement. "We got the idea from Mrs. Johnson and support from the rest of my group, and once the speech was over, the auras began joining forces almost immediately-"

"No, seriously, how did you do it?" Luan asked with a casual tone. "I mean, these are hundreds of auras who, I think, have the same stubborn-mindedness of Lincoln and Lisa."

Luan turned to the furry creatures. "No offense."

Gemini shook his head. _None taken._

 _And if I may add, your statement is quite correct,_ Divisu added, taking a cople steps towards the edge of the building to see the twilight auras gathering around. _Whether lux or umbra, bonding with either me or Lincoln was meant to come with the caveat that the aura would see the other as the enemy. After all, that's the way the system worked._

"But now that something bigger has presented itself," Leni remarked, gaining a little smile. "They've decided to throw away this notion that they're enemies and join forces to, at least, have a chance at defeating Dawning Dusk."

"Which is why I simply can't believe that a single speech was enough to convince them," Luan turned back to Girl Jordan and Lily. "So, do tell, how did you manage to rail the auras to your side?"

Lily spoke some baby gibberish, and Luan blinked twice upon hearing it. "Oh... so it really was a speech? Okay then."

"You're going to take Lily's word for it?" Leni inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"She doesn't have a reason to lie to us."

"But Girl Jordan does?"

"It's just a bit easier to trust a family member than a friend of a family member. Does that make sense?"

Leni shrugged, but their attention was caught when they caught a glimpse of Dawning Dusk jumping through some buildings, while still remaining relatively close to the city square. "What's she doing now?"

Dawning Dusk flew to the sky, aimed the twilight sword up, and shot a blast at it, the blast stopping in mid-air soon after to then morph into a portal to a very familiar place.

The Twilight World.

"What the heck's she planning to do now?!" Girl Jordan snapped.

 _She's opening a portal to the Twilight World!_ Gemini exclaimed, taking a step back. _She must be trying to summon all of the Shadows and Eclipses you've faced in the past!_

"Opening a portal to that place can do that?!" Clyde asked in disbelief.

 _The Twilight World is the place where all the objects and creatures you've faced so far originated from._ Divisu explained, lowering her ears as she looked at the portal. _The_ _Shadows, Eclipses, Cores of Darkness, even the umbra and lux cubes you use to transform, they all originated from there!_

"But back when I entered the world, it was literally empty besides those creatures that look similar to you!" Lori paused and thought abot it. "Or the creatures _you_ look similar to-point is, the place was literally empty!"

 _Neither we nor Leni ever got the chance to explore the place in detail, but believe us, the shadows and eclipses came from there._ Gemini replied as the portal began glowing. _And now that the portal is open-_

Suddenly, the ground shook as the from the portal came out several of the plushie-like creatures Lori saw, which eventually caught on black fire until they crashed on the ground, now sporting a more... humanoid look.

Then, the creatures flashed both golden and purple pupils as the fire surrounding them dissipated, revealing they now looked like either pitch black or pitch white versions of both the twilight auras.

As if that wasn't enough, a couple more of the creatures fell down, but instead of gaining more humanoid forms, they became far bigger, some as bigger as the buildings, and contorted into the forms of the Eclipses, each sporting slight cracks along their bodies.

Finally, Dawning Dusk flew down and stood in front of the crowd, taking a deep breath before shouting at the top of her lungs:

"Lily! Girl Jordan! What you see right now is the culmination of both all the enemies you've faced, and all the darkness and light within people, personified to fight under my command! If you don't want this to devolve into an outright war, come down, right now! Come with the Louds if you want, just come right now!"

"She's bluffing, right?" Girl Jordan asked, taking a step back. "There's no way she controls all of those things, right? I mean, controlling one of those things would be problematic enough, but all of them?!"

 _She's not the one who controls them: the twilight sword is the one the entities listen to._ Divisu explained. _It is the very representation of the Twilight World after all._

"So if we get rid of that sword, she won't be able to control those things anymore?" Lynn pondered. "But wait, that sword was created by combining a light and dark sword together, right? Can't you two just create another separate set of swords so we can create our own twilight sword?"

Gemini's ears perked up. _Yes, now that you mention it, that might-_

Suddenly, Gemini and Divisu were surrounded by an aura as they were dragged to Dawning Dusk's side, and kept levitating to her sides. "I'm not in the mood to wait forever, girls! Come down here right now, or you can kiss Lincoln and Lisa goodbye!"

Leni's eyes widened. "Oh man, she's not joking around."

Girl Jordan and Lily exchanged looks, nodded, and turned to the winged twilight aura. "Mollie, take us down there!"

"What?!" everybody shouted in shock.

"B-But, Girl Jordan, both you and Lily have no powers whatsoever; and besides, this is obviously a trap!" Clyde stated, putting a hand on Girl Jordan's shoulder. "If you go down there, she might kill you or something!"

"Clyde's literally right!" Lori added. "You can't just decide to go down there after Lincoln and Lisa got threatened!"

"Yeah, maybe you're not thinking things through enough!" Luan added with a nervous smile. "Maybe only one of you could go first and-"

"She explicitly wants both of us to go down there," Girl Jordan replied bluntly. "If only I go there, she might straight up kill Lincoln and Lisa anyway."

"Well, I hate to bring this up, losing Lincoln and Lisa... might not be the worst, maybe," Luna sorrowfully spoke. "I mean, they're the ones who got the idea and helped create Dawning Dusk in the first place."

"You're saying you wouldn't mind it if Lincoln and Lisa died!?" Girl Jordan snapped, Lily reacting with just as much horror and disgust. "I understand wanting them to pay for all they did, but letting them die?!"

"Look, it's either them who die," Lucy pointed at Lily. "Or you two end up dying instead."

Girl Jordan took a deep breath and frowned. "You'll be losing family members anyway."

The sisters fell silent and lowered their heads, having no idea how to respond to such a statement. But then, a single look at Lily's concerned face gave Girl Jordan an idea.

"Let's hear what Lily thinks, then!"

The sisters and Lily lifted their heads and raised an eyebrow, prompting Girl Jordan to explain: "Lily was the first person that Lincoln went to when this all started. She was the first one of you to transform into a lux aura. And she was also the only one of you who gave me the idea that I didn't have to be evil just because that's what Lincoln and Lisa planned!"

Girl Jordan crouched down, and gently put Lily on the ground. "This journey started with Lily. I think it's only fair we let her decide how it ends."

"I sure hope Dawning Dusk has enough patience to let Lily properly decide," Luan said as she walked towards Lily and crouched down. "But okay, Lily, tell us. What do you want to do?"

Lily scanned the scene: her sisters, Clyde, Girl Jordan's group, they were all looking at her with hopes that she would make the right choice. Or at least, what they thought was the right choice: stay behind with the sisters and think of something else they could do, or go with Girl Jordan and Mollie to what was very much a death trap in all but name.

Then, she looked back at Girl Jordan, who continued to crouch down waiting for her answer. From afar, she could also see the army of shadows and eclipses of Dawning Dusk, with the creature looking rather impatient for something to happen, no matter what.

Eventually, Lily made a decision, and after telling some baby gibberish to a horrified Luan, she jumped to Girl Jordan's arms.

"What did she say?" Luna asked.

Luan's eyes widened. "She's going to go see Dawning Dusk."

The sisters gasped, with Leni even getting ready to catch Mollie with her strings before Lori held her back, shaking her head as the girls got on Mollie's back.

As she spread her wings, the girl turned back to the team and said "I'm sorry." under her breath before flying off into the distance, towards the army of darkness at the city square.

With the girls heading straight into danger, it wasn't long before one of the sisters got ready to head to the army of twilight auras: this sister being, of course, Lori.

"Lori, what are you doing?" Leni inquired.

"Lily's made her decision, and no matter how much we may be against it, we should at least try to support her," Lori answered as she reached the edges of the building. "So, I'm going to head to the twilight army in order to give them some help, and I suggest you do too."

Lori jumped to the next rooftop, and as she jumped from roof to roof towards the twilight army, the remaining sisters-and Becky and Dana, 'cause they were still there apparently-followed suit.

* * *

Mollie arrived at the city square and dropped Girl Jordan and Lily in front of the army, before she joined the ranks and became a twilight aura just in case.

"Well, look who we got here: the two bases for the very being that'll wipe Royal Woods off the face of the map," Dawning Dusk smugly remarked as both Lily and Girl Jordan shot glares at her. "I honestly wasn't expecting you to come here on your own. I thought I'd have to kill these little pricks first before you even took a step."

 _Luckily, part of your design was to always understimate your opponent._ Divisu dryly remarked.

"You two, shut up! I can end your lives with the snap of a finger and you know I'll do it!" Dawning Dusk's anger was quickly quenched. "After all, considering everything you've done, I'm pretty certain the only people who would mourn your loss would be Girl Jordan and Lily here-"

"You're wrong!"

Dawning Dusk snapped a look at the twilight army just as the rest of the Loud sisters took steps forward, revealing themselves to now be twilight auras just like the rest of the army.

After all, they'd stick out like a sore thumb otherwise.

"What do you mean I'm wrong?" Dawning Dusk pointed at Gemini and Divisu. "These two are the reason this entire outbreak has happened! They're the reason I even exist in the first place! You should be more than happy with the idea that they could soon kick the bucket!"

"At first, we probably would've been happy to see those two die a horrible death," Luna started, cringing at her own words before she continued, "But at the end of the day, all they wanted to do was give their lives some meaning; and isn't that what everybody wants to do someday?"

"Their methods were very questionable, we won't deny that," Luan added, taking another step forward. "And yes, it took them quite a long while before they realized what they were doing was wrong, but now they want to make things better!"

Dawning Dusk raised an eyebrow. "And how do you know they're not lying to you? That they're not trying to trick you into lowering your guard, so they can continue to torment you like they've done up to this point!?"

"Because if there's one thing we know about Lincoln and Lisa, is that as soon as they realize they've done something wrong, they'll do everything they can to make amends!" Lana stated.

"Besides, between you and those two, you definitely seem like the less trustworthy one," Lola quipped. "I mean, you're the one planning to destroy Royal Woods, after all."

"You say that," Dawning Dusk snapped her fingers, and Gemini and Divisu hovered towards her side. "But it's because of these things that I have that goal in the first place. I mean, be honest: when somebody kills a person with a weapon, who's to blame, the person or the weapon? To be a bit more clear, I'm nothing more than a weapon, a means to an end, and these creatures are the people who used the weapon, A.K.A. me-"

"Actually, the people who, like, had the idea of using you as a weapon were Tetherby and his group, and you already absorbed them into your... being, I think," Leni explained. She scratched her head as she spoke further, "Really, you're more like a project of a pair of weapons, those being Lincoln and Lisa."

Dawning Dusk groaned in frustration, but before she snapped, she facepalmed, dragged her hand down her face, and calmed down enough to speak cordially:

"Alright, we're clearly getting nowhere, and the creatures behind me have... a bit of a bloodlust, if you get what I mean. So, let's stop beating around the bush: you're going to keep talking about how Lincoln and Lisa are the good guys now, and I'm the bad guy now, and you won't stop until I admit that you're right and we end all of this over a cup of tea, right?"

"I'd prefer coke at this point, to be honest, or just something cold rather than hot," Lola remarked with a shrug. "But, yeah, that's the gist of it."

Dawning Dusk hummed while glancing maliciously at Divisu and Gemini. "Interesting..."

Before anybody could say "Wait!", Dawning Dusk raised her arm and the aura around Gemini and Divisu was absorbed, the creatures flailing around helplessly as their forms deflated, the life slowly seeping from out of them as the army watched in horror.

Girl Jordan and Lily looked particularly horrified as Dawning Dusk threw the lifeless husks of Gemini and Divisu to the side, the former lowering her head to see the husks before she threw a furious glare at the artificial humanoid. "What did you do to them!?"

"Just like their friends, I absorbed them into my being..." Dawning Dusk threw a smirk at Leni. "I think."

Leni gritted her teeth and growled.

"I was going to humor the idea of releasing those two if you had chosen to quite the idea of trying to paint me as the bad guy," Dawning Dusk shrugged and shook her head. "But you just so happened to pick the wrong choice just now, now I'm going to have to beat you to near-death, if not outright kill you. What a pity."

"That's a laugh!" Girl Jordan snapped. "You were going to hurt or kill us even if we had said what you wanted to hear!"

Dawning Dusk suddenly aimed the twilight sword at the duo, and charged an energy sphere. "And now you're going to die, without getting Lincoln and Lisa back!"

Girl Jordan hugged Lily just as a figure jumped in front of them, and Dawning Dusk shot an energy beam, seemingly engulfing both them and the twilight army.

However, once the beam stopped firing, Dawning Dusk gasped once she saw the beam had been blocked by Mrs. Shrinivas shield, the woman throwing an angry glare at the creature to convince her to fly up and signal the attack:

"Army of the Darkness Within People! Engage the Twilight World Army! But leave Girl Jordan and Lily alone!" Dawning Dusk narrowed her eyes. "They're mine for the taking!"

The shadows and eclipses roared and the twilight army shouted as well as both armies ran straight into each other and began fighting, with Mollie flying away with Girl Jordan and Lily afterwards.

Seeing the winged aura flying away, Dawning Dusk aimed the twilight sword at her and charged it slightly before shooting a couple of energy blasts, each of which was easily dodged by Mollie. Some of the blasts promptly went on to hit the darkness army, giving the twilight army a slight edge.

One of the creatures hit by the blasts was the giant cat Eclipse Othello, who roared at Dawning Dusk as Dana promptly threw a couple bombs at it, all while Becky stood by her back, swining her sword against her crystal clones.

"Thanks for the help, Dawning Dusk!" Becky mockingly shouted, right before cutting a clone in half.

Another creature hit by the stray blasts was the giant skeleton Eclipse Hallvard, which failed to stop her from grabbing Lynn's Eclipsed counterpart and throwing her at the duo of Lucy and Lynn, who dodged the incoming simian eclipse, followed by Lynn shooting her gauntlets at the giant skeletal creature.

Back with the flying pair, Dawning Dusk kept shooting blasts at Mollie as she asked Girl Jordan, "What do we do now, Girl Jordan?!"

"For now, keep flying!" Girl Jordan stated before looking at Dawning Dusk with a concerned look. "Wait until something or someone takes Dawning Dusk's attention instead!"

And this statement soon came true when a laser beam struck the creature and stunned her, allowing Mrs. Johnson to jump and tackle the creature into the ground, causing her to crash through a couple trees before the woman tried giving her a faceful of a dropkick, before Dawning Dusk threw her away with the force of her sword swing.

The artificial creature quickly lunged and swung her sword, only for Mrs. Johnson to block it with her bare hands, the woman glancing at the fleeing Mollie just as she hid away from plain sight, bringing a smile to her face.

* * *

Mollie dropped Girl Jordan and Lily on the roof of a building and promptly hit the ground, rolling around for a bit before she clashed with a wall, breathing heavily.

"Well, Mrs. Johnson... should buy us... some time..." Mollie said in the middle of her breathing. "But considering... how strong Dawning Dusk is-"

"She won't be able to hold her back forever, I know," Girl Jordan took a deep breath and stood up. "There has to be something we can do to tip the balance to our favor!"

Mollie weakly stood up. "But what?"

Girl Jordan looked around the scenery for any source for an idea, but beyond the constant fighting between the armies, there wasn't anything that gave the girl any idea on what to do... until she looked at the portal to the Twilight World.

Seeing the portal still open, Girl Jordan and Lily exchanged looks, nodded with determination, and she promptly stated:

"Mollie, take us to the portal to the Twilight World!"

"Wait, what?!" Mollie exclaimed, her eyes growing as big as dinner plates. "Just what are you planning now, Girl Jordan?!"

"According to Lily, her sister Lori once entered the Twilight World in order to gain a chance to become an umbra aura," Girl Jordan said, focusing solely on the portal. "If we can go inside that dimension and find and defeat our counterparts there, we might be able to regain our powers!"

"Girl Jordan, even you have to admit how insane your plan is!" Mollie replied, looking at the portal with extreme concern. "You practically want me to take you to a portal to another dimension you've never been to before, only for the theoretical-not fact, but theoretical-chance to regain your powers to deal the final blow against Dawning Dusk?! What do we do if the plan fails?!"

"Dang it, Mollie, now's not the time to think negatively!" Girl Jordan snapped back, Lily nodding in agreement. "Please, I know it'll be terrible if we fail, but it'll be even worse if we don't even try! After all, we don't have a ghost of a chance at fighting Dawning Dusk right now."

"And I don't have enough energy to feel confident about my ability to fly you to the portal," Mollie said, weakly flapping her wings. "If I make even a single mistake, you're going to drop to the ground in the middle of the war for Royal Woods! That is, assuming you don't drop dead in the process."

Girl Jordan glanced at Lily, quickly realizing what this meant for the baby. However, Lily quickly returned the glance, one of both determination, and a desire to end this once and for all.

With that, their decision was made.

"It's worth the risk; we have to defeat Dawning Dusk at all costs."

"If only you could still create arrows out of items, I could've used one of your healing arrows," Mollie took a deep breath and spread her wings. "But now's not the time to complain. Get on my back, I'll do my best to take you there."

Girl Jordan and Lily smiled, and nodded...

* * *

Mrs. Johnson hit the ground, taking a couple deep breaths as Dawning Dusk lowered the twilight sword and looked disappointed at the woman.

"You know, while I was still being made, part of the data inside my capsule injected in my mind the idea that the older the person turned into an aura is, the more powerful they are compared to younger people," Dawning Dusk shook her head. "I guess with the power I possess now, that little distinction no longer means anything."

Just then, Mrs. Johnson glanced at the distance and spotted Mollie, Girl Jordan, and Lily heading towards the Twilight World portal. Seeing this, the woman smiled and scoffed, "Just remember, the only reason you got me on my knees was because you absorbed a lot of power prior. If you had used your raw strength, there's a chance I might've beaten you."

"Yes, but only that; a chance," Dawning Dusk raised the twilight sword. "Now, do you have any last words before I make sure you don't pester me again?"

Suddenly, Dawning Dusk got hit by a laser beam, sending her flying past Mrs. Johnson for a few seconds before she regained her composure and stabbed her sword on the ground, landing crudely on the ground as Teri and Mrs. Shrinivas arrived, the former stating, "Don't forget about us!"

Dawning Dusk, unfazed by the arrival of new challengers, took off her sword from the ground and gripped it with both hands. "An interesting choice for last words..."

* * *

Mollie flew as far as she could towards the Twilight World, flapping her wings harder and harder as Girl Jordan stood up, ready to jump into the portal. With one last flap, Girl Jordan jumped off Mollie's back and successfully crossed through the portal, with Mollie falling to the ground afterwards, her wings dissipating into feathers than then dissolved into light as she fell.

Luckily, a certain expanding staff quickly went towards her, with a certain girl named Joy standing on top of it, readily grabbing Mollie before she hit the ground. The staff promptly retracted back to its original size until the girls could land on the ground safely, which was followed by Kat running up to them.

"Mollie, are you okay?!" she exclaimed as she quickly scanned the exhausted aura. "Where are Girl Jordan and Lily?!"

Mollie weakly pointed up to the Twilight World portal, Joy and Kat getting a glimpse at it just before their Eclipse counterparts popped out of nowhere, ready to fight.

* * *

Girl Jordan scanned the monochromatic realm known as the Twilight World, looking rather curious at it. "So, this is the Twilight World..."

"You know, I didn't expect rainbows or anything, but this is much more black and white than I thought."

Realizing someone other than her just spoke, Girl Jordan looked around until she glanced at her arms, and noticed that instead of carrying a baby Lily, she was carrying a Lily that was around her own age, yet still somehow just as light as before, and now wearing a simple lavender dress instead of her aura outfit.

And then both she and Lily realized this, the former dropping the latter immediately.

"What happened to you?!" Girl Jordan exclaimed, taking a step back. "Weren't you just a baby a second ago?!"

"That's what I want to know, too!" Lily said, looking at her hands, clenching and opening them twice before she pinched her cheek. "I didn't even feel my body changing at all, so how did this happen?!"

"The Twilight World willed it."

The girls turned around, Girl Jordan jumping in front of Lily, as a pair of spheres, one black and one white, emerged from the ground and promptly morphed into two familiar figures: the white sphere became Lincoln, and the black sphere became Lisa.

"No way," Girl Jordan said in utter disbelief.

"I'm afraid what we're saying is true," Lincoln spoke, folding his arms. "The Twilight World didn't feel comfortable having a baby defenseless against its native creatures, so it aged you up to an age it would feel more comfortable with."

"I know a dimension having an actual conscious mind of its own sounds utterly ridiculous," Lisa remarked, shaking her head. "But we don't have any other explanation for this phenomenon: whether that explanation sounds reasonable, or utterly bonkers."

"Lincoln! Lisa!" Lily exclaimed as she ran up to the glowing entities and hugged them. "I thought you died when Dawning Dusk absorbed you!"

"We pretty much did die back then," Lisa answered as she gently separated from the hug. "These are the forms we've taken as a result of it: apparently whatever Leni did to us gave us a connection to the Twilight World."

"Since our bodies were pretty much replaced for those creature-like plushies, when we got absorbed into Dawning Dusk, rather than become part of her being, we were simply transported as energy beings to the Twilight World," Lincoln explained, scratching the back of his head. "At least, that's how I think it works. It's the idea that makes the most sense to me, anyway."

"But wait a minute, if you two are here, then those who got absorbed by her could also..." Girl Jordan narrowed her eyes and clenched her fist. "Is Tetherby and his group here too?!"

"Yeah, but we don't pay attention to them: their plush forms were custom-made, rather than being based on actual creatures of the Twilight World," Lisa explained. She folded her arms and gained a little smile as she continued. "Even if they do manage to possess one of the native creatures of this world, not that we have any evidence that they can do that, they'll suffer quite the whiplash in trying to work around those bodies."

"But that's besides the point," Lincoln said, scratching his chin. "We assume you came here in order to find a way to defeat Dawning Dusk once and for all, right?"

"Yes; she opened a portal to this world in order to summon both the Shadows and the Eclipses we've been facing since this chaos started," Lily confessed, lowering her head as she sighed, "If we don't find a way to tide the battle in our favor, Royal Woods might be lost."

Lincoln promptly put a hand on Lily's shoulder. "Don't worry, Lily; believe it or not, there's one thing you can do."

Lily perked up. "Really? What is it?!"

Lisa turned towards a random spot of the world, and snapped her fingers along with Lincoln, summoning a pair of spheres, once again one black and one white, that flew towards them. They then grabbed the spheres, and as they moved their arms around them, the spheres morphed and contorted until they turned into sword-like weapons.

"Okay, you've been here for how long again?" Girl Jordan asked, folding her arms. "How do you know how to manipulate those things and turn them into swords? In fact, what do they have to do with this new method to defeat Dawning Dusk?"

Lisa took a deep breath. "Using these artificial copies of the light and dark swords, we'll use the knighting process used to create lux squires in order to grant you access to the greatest known form of the auras."

Lincoln smiled. "The World auras."

Lily's eyes widened a little as she took a moment to process this revelation, and lowered her head as she thought about it.

"So Lux, Umbra, Twilight, and now World has been added to the list of Aura types," Girl Jordan counted, holding back a chuckle as she added, "By any chance, have you found any evidence of other Aura types?"

"Hmm, I think I found evidence for a "Turbo Aura" form," Lincoln said. "Might've been just my imagination, though."

"And I once thought there was a form known as the "Super Aura" before realizing the actual name was _Twilight_ Aura," Lisa spoke. "Now, I'm not so sure the form even exists."

"Guys, I'm having as much fun talking about hypothetical transformations, but there's a war breaking out in Royal Woods as we speak," Lily remarked, getting everyone's attention. "So, if you don't mind, could you tell us how to become World Auras so we can put an end to this?"

Lily took a deep breath and lifted her head, "Is there anything we should know before we answer?"

"This entire idea began around you and Girl Jordan, Lily, the first Lux and Umbra aura respectively," Lincoln explained, gaining a little smile as he added, "I think it's only fitting that you become the end of this idea as well, as World auras."

"We do have to add, though, that there might be a trick to this," Lisa said, folding her arms with narrowed eyes. "We haven't been long enough here to figure out the full process and intricacies of the World Auras, only that they exist. However, if this thing works just like the generic magical girl idea-"

"Which, conincidentally, seems to be how most stuff has operated since this started," Lincoln interjected.

"Then you're only going to have one shot at the transformation: it could last forever, it could last five minutes," Lisa sighed. "But once you get the transformation, there will be two things you have to do no matter what: stop Dawning Dusk once and for all-"

"Well, duh, no need to tell us twice," Girl Jordan said. "But what's the other thing?"

"Turn everything back to normal," Lincoln revealed. "As in, no lux, or umbra, or twilight, or world auras, not even shadows or eclipses: the world will go back to before this entire madness happened."

Lily and Girl Jordan exchanged shocked looks, but after a few seconds, Girl Jordan's look relaxed and she nodded with a reassuring smile, then extended her hand towards Lily.

She promptly realized what this meant, and gaining a determined smile, she shook hands with Girl Jordan, and they answered in unison:

"We'll do it!"

* * *

Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Shrinivas, and Teri all crashed on top of each other back at the city square, crashing through some of their fellow twilight auras as the Eclipses began gaining the upper hand against the twilight army, cornering the majority of said army at the city square, while some other agents slowly began overpowering their counterparts.

Dawning Dusk quickly flew over to the square, and after a quick scan of the place, she charged the twilight sword as she sternly asked:

"Where are Lily and Girl Jordan?"

Suddenly, a pair of lights came out of the portal, one light and one black, falling from it at such speed that once they hit the ground, both the twilight auras and nearby shadows and eclipses were sent flying over to some walls, Dawning Dusk and some of the stronger members of the army being the only ones not affected.

Once the smoke cloud from the crash cleared up, Dawning Dusk's eyes widened as she saw who were the lights: Girl Jordan and Lily, both looking like auras with... a few differences.

Their forms were mostly black and white, Lily's form being primarily white while Girl Jordan's form was primarily black, and their skin had become a shade of grey, Lily having a lighter shade while Girl Jordan got the darker shade.

Finally, they opened their eyes, revealing Lily had black sclera and white pupils, and Girl Jordan had the exact opposite: white sclera, black pupils.

They promptly aimed her hands forward, opened them, and generated spheres of energy as they spoke in unison:

"Were you looking for us..."

The spheres morphed into swords, which the girls gripped tightly and held close their their hips as they finished:

"Dawning Dusk?"


	24. Episode XII: Grand Finale (Part 2)

**And here's the second part of the grand finale for Lux-Umbra Magna Auguratricis... definitely took my sweet time there XD**

 **Before we reply to some reviews, I want to tell you guys how happy I am that you've been with me since the start of this story, and are now seeing it to the end. I seriously appreciate you reading the story even after it had some controversial elements, or stupidly long hiatuses.**

 **Now, let's go with the final replies:**

 **1) GennaiArakida-XIV: Now you can see it for yourself.**

 **2) Nobody245: Anything could happen, we're at the finale after all.**

 *** No epilogue, this is the very last chapter for this story. Sorry if that disappoints you.**

 **Now, to the chapter!**

* * *

Back where we left off, Girl Jordan and Lily stared defiantly at Dawning Dusk, a pair of confident smiles plastered across their faces as Dawning Dusk returned the smiles with a furious glare, and everybody else stood still for a moment to behold the form the girls' were currently at.

"Another new form, huh?" Mollie remarked, scratching her head. "I guess Girl Jordan's hunch about the Twilight World was both real, and something that paid off, huh?"

"Not only Girl Jordan, but Lily got a new form too," Luna remarked, scratching her chin. "I got to admit, though, this isn't exactly what I expected the new form to look like."

"To be fair, I think we can agree that nobody expected a new form," Luan added. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

This was followed by Dawning Dusk flying down to the ground, setting foot on top of one of the defeated eclipses before she spoke, "You're having a laugh, aren't you? What kind of form is that?"

"This, Dawning Dusk, is the World Aura," Girl Jordan proclaimed, flashing a confident smirk. "Imagine an aura that is neither lux nor umbra, or even twilight for that matter."

"It's an aura empowered by the very essence of the Twilight World," Lily added, putting a hand on her chest. "They're basically that world's power infused into an aura!"

"Bah! You talk as if it was something important, but as far as I can tell, this "World Aura" form is nothing more than a monochromatic paint color!" Dawning Dusk aimed the twilight sword at the duo and charged some energy once again. "It doesn't matter what kind of paint job you give your forms, you've already lost!"

Dawning Dusk shot a blast at the duo, culminating in a big explosion. However, barely seconds after the explosion was made, Dawning Dusk found herself surrounded by a black and white aura, then lifted off the ground, with the smoke cloud soon dissipating to reveal Lily and Girl Jordan's swords sporting black and white auras, and being slightly raised.

The duo quickly swung their swords to the side, sending Dawning Dusk flying off into a building with enough impact to leave a crater, right before dissipating their weapons' auras and turning back to the twilight army.

"Don't worry about us," Girl Jordan stated, gripping her sword tightly. "With the power we got right now, there's nothing Dawning Dusk can do to hurt us anymore!"

"You guys keep the other creatures at bay," Lily winked and gave the army a thumbs up. "We'll take down Dawning Dusk once and for all!"

The Loud sisters, as well as Girl Jordan's group and some of the other twilight auras, nodded in response and continued their attack on the shadows and eclipses, just in time for Dawning Dusk to come out of the rubble, now with a volatile aura around her as she stomped her way to the duo.

"There's nothing I can do to hurt you anymore, you say? Take me down once and for all, you say?!"

Dawning Dusk leaped high in the sky and charged the twilight sword with energy.

"We'll see about that!"

Dawning Dusk lunged at the duo, who blocked her sword swing with their own swords, unleashing shock waves that shook the ground, beginning the battle for Royal Woods.

The trio immediately took the battle to the skies as the battle between the armies raged on.

* * *

Becky jumped up and swung down her sword at Othello, cutting the crystal cat so hard both halves slowly cracked, until the crystal cat shattered, the shards falling to the ground as Iago immediately came out and tackled Becky hard enough to send her right into Dana's arms.

"So, we meet again, Dana," Iago remarked, getting the explosive aura's attention. "And this time, you're defending the aura who made you feel so inadequate, you turned into an Eclipse to try and fix it?"

"I'm not defending the person who did that to me," Dana stated as she gently put Becky on the ground. "I'm defending my best friend!"

Becky blinked twice, surprised that Dana would go so far as to say that, but she quickly shook her head and stood up. "And I have learned my lesson!"

Iago raised an eyebrow. "And just what do you mean by this?"

"Back when I first became a Lux Aura, I only thought about how cool it was, and how it was the best thing to ever happen to me! And I did it without ever thinking or noticing Dana's feelings about it!" Becky stated, taking a couple steps forward. "But now, I've seen what my ego did to my best friend, and I'm going to work as hard as I can so it never happens again!"

Iago rolled her eyes and glanced at Dana. "And you believe this girl's words, Dana?"

"I..." Dana paused. She thought about how Becky had been her best friend for years, and yet it took until she was turned into a massive dark monster in order for her to notice how upset she was at not being a Lux Aura, or an Aura in general.

Then, she remembered their encounter with Girl Jordan and Joy back in the hospital, when they were a single creature. She remembered how Becky, with some budging from Girl Jordan, put a stop to the chaos and how she thought about her when she did.

With a reassuring smile, she stated, "I do, Iago."

Becky looked shocked at Dana, completely missing the sight of Iago slowly vanishing as she spoke "She better appreciate it, then" before vanishing into light.

With this done, Becky walked to Dana and raised an eyebrow. "Were you honest with what you said, or did you say it in order to get rid of Iago?"

"I don't think Iago would've vanished if I had been dishonest with her," Dana walked closer to Becky. "And besides, I've been with you since this started: that's long enough for me to notice whether you really changed or not."

Becky smiled with sincere relief, before Luna and Luan were sent flying past them thanks to the giant shadow form of Flip.

"Oh hi Dana, Becky," Luan greeted as she and Luna stood up.

"Look, dudes, we know you're having a moment and all," Luna lifted her axe. "But could you please help us fight this giant shadow thing?"

Dana and Becky exchanged looks, and smiling with confidence, they raised their weapons and answered in unison:

"Consider it done!"

* * *

Hallvard threw Lynn's eclipsed form at the duo, with Lynn pushing Lucy away before the giant simian monster struck her, sending her flying straight into Girl's Jordan's group's fight with their counterparts.

This left Lucy all alone with the giant skeletal creature, who stared down at her with unblinking, glowing eyes. Her stare pierced right through whatever confidence Lucy had, but this didn't completely destroy the girl.

"Look, I know how you're feeling."

Hallvard tilted their head as Lucy continued, "You were made thanks to me, because I was foolish enough to not only keep secrets from my family, but because the one person I told everything to, that I thought I could trust, turned out to be part of this mess the entire time."

Hallvard lowered their head, and Lucy walked up to the creature. "Not to mention the fact that everything can all be traced back to Great Grandma Harriet's book, which Leni used in order to create Gemini and Divisu, and kickstart this entire thing... before she corrupted me somehow."

"And I'm sorry for that too."

The duo turned around and saw Leni slowly approaching the pair. "For both using the book without permission, and for corrupting you."

Lucy backed away a little as Hallvard got ready to throw a fist down Leni's head, though they were at least nice enough to let her speak:

"Back when I used the book, I had little to no idea what I was getting into, and by the time I realized just what I had done, it was far too late for me to just back away and act like nothing ever happened. All through the year, I watched you and our family being played like fools... being played like me... and the only thing I could think to do was keep doing what I had always done: act like I didn't know any better."

Leni lowered her head. "And now, I'm probably going to be arrested and sentenced to community service at best, and Lincoln and Lisa are probably never going to be seen. All because I put my nose where I didn't need to."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "Did you take off your "like" and "totes" tics?"

"I don't need to take them out in order to speak seriously for once," Leni sighed, scratching the back of her head. "Just as how you don't need to feel sorry for me in the slightest: I understand that what I've done is unforgivable."

Lucy lowered her head, then lifted it and walked towards the fashionista. "You're right in that we can't forgive you for this, and if you do turn yourself in, I think whatever you get-as long as it isn't execution-would be an appropriate fate. But... you're still my sister, and you only wanted to help. You caused a lot more harm than good, but your heart was in the right place."

Leni and Lucy promotly shared a hug as Hallvard silently sighed and vanished into light.

A sight that was caught by Lynn's eclipsed form, enraging her enough to make her roar as Lynn continued to fight her, Girl Jordan's group keeping their own counterparts in check.

This didn't last long, as the Eclipses quickly cornered them and got ready to take them down, but not before Karma spoke:

"Kat, Joy, Mollie, Lynn, you're all accussed for wrongfully trusting the one named Girl Jordan without giving her a proper judgement. How do you plead?"

" _Wrongfully_ trusting?!" Kat exclaimed, narrowing her eyes as she aimed her hammer at the multi-eyed head. "I'm sorry, but didn't we get rid of you once we passed judgement on Girl Jordan after discovering Lincoln and Lisa were behind everything?!"

"The judgement that you passed was done in a feeling of rage, a feeling that brought forth a clouded mind," Karma summoned thunderstorms as they continued, "Unless a new judgement is made, we will never vanish!"

Lighting fell down the group, who narrowly dodged them along with Lynn's simian eclipse's punches, and Franziska and Phoenix's eclipsed forms' whip and... flying? Well, at least they tried.

"So, you want us to give Girl Jordan another judgement?" Kat asked before she swung her hammer at the lighting bolts, surprisingly deflecting them back at Karma.

Once Kat and Karma both shook off their surprise at the action, the latter explained, "Now that anger doesn't cloud your mind, a proper judgement can be made. Do it, and we will vanish peacefully."

"Well, Girl Jordan isn't the enemy, and we were wrong to judge her," Joy sternly stated before she aimed her staff at the group. "There's your judgement, now bug off!"

"I agree with her!" Phoenix exclaimed, giving the girl a thumbs up.

"Well I don't, and I'm part of her!" Franziska added, throwing a furious glare at her. "You were among the people who thought she was the enemy! That she was a sourpuss that ruined everything with her pessimism!"

"Things changed, did you ever think about that?" Mollie pointed out, Phoenix nodding in agreement. "The idea changed, our view on this aura stuff changed, and most importantly, Girl Jordan changed!"

"Girl Jordan, is, the enemy!" Lynn's eclipsed form yelled.

"No she's not!" Lynn growled back. "The real enemy is Dawning Dusk, and in case you haven't noticed, she and Lily are taking care of her right now!"

Enraged at her countepart yelling at her back, the simian Eclipse got ready to throw a punch, only for Lynn to throw a punch of her own, with the collision of fists causing the Eclipsed simian to crack, then explode into tiny little bits, with Lynn dusting her hands shortly afterwards.

Seeing the death of the creature, Karma closed their eyes and took a deep breath. "To make things clear, Girl Jordan is not the enemy anymore?"

"No, that's Dawning Dusk, Girl Jordan's just one of the many auras who were played in order to make this madness possible," Kat stated with a single nod.

"Therefore, judgement has been passed!" Karma exclaimed as they, Phoenix, and Franziska began vanishing. "Girl Jordan is guilty of being played like a fool and being a pessimist, but innocent of the overall madness we're facing. Therefore, she's innocent!"

With that said, the courtroom trio vanished into light, Franziska looking pretty upset before she vanished.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Lynn took a deep breath. "Let's go help everybody else with the Shadows and Eclipses."

The judgement trio nodded, and they ran off to help with the rest of the war, with Lynn glancing at the sky battle between Dawning Dusk, Girl Jordan, and Lily before she joined them, a smile plastered across her face.

* * *

Dawning Dusk aimed the sword at Lily and Girl Jordan and shot several energy blasts at them, blasts that were easily countered by the girls as they flew towards her, until they got close enough to swing their swords right at her face. However, Dawning Dusk narrowly dodged the attack and lightly charged her own sword so it would have a little more "oomph" as she swung it.

However, the duo quickly blocked the attack and overpowered Dawning Dusk, returning the "oomph" right back at her. However, this only managed to send her over a dozen feet into the air before she cut off the wave with her sword, and flew towards Lily, who gestured her to come at her.

Dawning Dusk flew faster towards Lily, but just before she either swung her sword, or shot a beam at her, or did something at all, Lily jumped away to reveal Girl Jordan had a bow and arrow made of pure darkness right on hand, flashing a grin before she shot the arrow at Dawning Dusk, followed by her shooting her finger gun a couple of times.

"Wait, weren't you holding a sword just now!?" Dawning Dusk complained as she crudely took off the arrow. "Where did you get the bow and arrow!?"

Girl Jordan calmly spread her arms a little and shrugged as the bow and arrow of darkness morphed into a formless form, then reformed as the dark sword on Girl Jordan's hand.

"Hold it, those things were the dark sword!?" Dawning Dusk looked at the scenery in search for Lily. "But wait, if you can turn that thing into your aura weapon, then-"

*BONK!*

Dawning Dusk plummeted to the ground, catching a glimpse of Lily smiling with a pitch white version of her mace before the creature crashed on the ground, once again leaving a crater on the ground.

Perhaps Dawning Dusk was half-meteor, from how many craters she was leaving behind?

Once the creature stood up, she glared at the monochromatic duo before they flew towards her, swinging their swords as soon as they got close enough, with Dawning Dusk blocking the attack quickly enough. The force was still enough to send her a bunch of feet away.

The dark sword and light sword got slightly charged, and Lily and Girl Jordan swung them, releasing sword waves that were quickly cut apart with Dawning Dusk's own sword wave, though the remaining piece still got enough energy to cut her cheek and part of her dress.

This left white and black cuts that slowly bled black and white blood respectively. Not only that, but Dawning Dusk couldn't even grab or touch the blood: she tried touching it, but her finger remained completely dry.

This didn't stop her from growing furious at being injured so lightly. "I took your powers, I took your friends and siblings, I even took your fashion sense before they were cool! So how am I the one who's losing here!?"

"You're not going to get that answer if you keep this up, Dawning Dusk," Girl Jordan stated, aiming her dark sword at the creature. "The only thing you're going to get is a swift death!"

Then, Lily put her hand on Girl Jordan's blade, lowered it, and flashed a reassuring smile. "Let me try something with her first."

Lily walked up to the downed creature, confusing Dawning Dusk, and worrying Girl Jordan.

"I once told Girl Jordan that just because she was made to be evil as an umbra aura, it didnt mean that she had to be evil," Lily said with a little smile. "Maybe, just maybe, that little statement could get through you too, right? I mean, is this really what you want to do? Just be a generic villain who dies a generic death?"

Lily extended her hand forward, now making Girl Jordan officially panic. "You don't have to be evil, Dawning Dusk. Not as long as you have a choice."

Dawning Dusk glanced at Lily's hand, then glanced at Girl Jordan in the distance, the girl throwing a concerned look at Lily, barely paying attention to the creature herself. Seeing this, Dawning Dusk grabbed Lily's hand, stood up...

And promply pulled Lily towards her and ran her twilight sword through her stomach, sporting a sadistic smirk along the way.

"Lily!"

"You got one thing right, Lily: I don't have to be evil, just as how you didn't have to leave yourself so open!" Dawning Dusk smugly pointed out, as the twilight sword charged energy. "Now you get to see the consequences of that little blunder!"

The sword shot Lily right back at Girl Jordan, who caught the girl and helped her stand up as she clutched her pierced stomach, though for some reason she didn't seem to be bleeding... from the stomach wound, anyway, there was some suspicious black liquid coming down from her lips...

"We've come this far, there's no point trying to convince me to turn over a new leaf!" Dawning Dusk proclaimed as she flew up, the portal to the Twilight World right behind her. "At this point, you either live or you die!"

Dawning Dusk raised the twilight sword up. "And I'm not going to drop dead if you ask nicely!"

The twilight sword glew as energy from all the Shadows and Eclipses was taken, the creatures slowly levitating over the ground before they flew towards Dawning Dusk, their forms vanishing into either light or dark matter as it got absorbed into the sword, until every creature the twilight army were facing had physically ceased to be, their forms now composing the glowing aura of the twilight sword.

Dawning Dusk promptly aimed the sword at Girl Jordan and Lily, charging it further as Girl Jordan aimed her dark sword at the creature, followed by Lily weakly doing the same with her light sword. They charged their swords together, and when Lily's wound started acting up, Girl Jordan gave her a reassuring look and said:

"It's going to be alright."

Lily smiled and nodded. "Yeah, it will."

Dawning Dusk shot a beam of light and dark matter at the duo, who shot individual dark and light matter beams at the other beam, until they combined in a spiraling motion, clashing with the beam and keeping both beams in a standstill.

Lily and Girl Jordan gritted their teeth as they were slightly pushed back and Dawning Dusk's beam slowly began overpowering their own beam, the creature laughing mad in delight.

"Lily! Girl Jordan!" Lori exclaimed.

The oldest sister summoned her spear and threw it at Dawning Dusk, which briefly annoyed the creature, but didn't do anything hard enough to disengage the beam.

The rest of the twilight auras promptly began bombarding Dawning Dusk with their weapons, with some of them doing actual damage before Dawning Dusk summoned a black and white shield, which blocked every incoming strike.

"Quit it, you fools! Don't you understand!?" Dawning Dusk snapped, focusing solely on the beam. "If the only thing you can do to help these two is pester me, you might as well be worthless!"

The shield eventually burst, sending the weapons right back to the twilight auras before knocking them out, just in time for them to turn back to their normal lux and umbra forms.

"Don't tell me the time limit ran out already!" Luna said as she looked at her lux gloves. "That much time can't have passed already, has it?!"

"Whether it has or hasn't doesn't matter," Leni spoke before she turned back to Dawning Dusk. "We need to do something about that beam, or else Dawning Dusk is going to win."

Seeing the situation was at its most intense moment, Luna looked around everywhere for something to do, before she noticed white steam coming out of her body. She looked around some more, until she found the source of the steam: Lily, extending on hand forward towards Luna, while breathing heavily.

Luna had no idea what to do for a while, until she tried extending her hand towards Lily, sending more steam at her as her form slowly reverted her back to her normal clothes.

Seeing that, Luan soon stood up and did the same as Luna, giving Lily some steam until she too reverted back to her normal form. This was followed by the rest of the sisters doing the same, also causing the light half of the dual beam to slowly grow stronger.

Then came the umbra auras, all aiming their hands towards Girl Jordan, dark steam coming out of them and being absorbed into the girl's body until they returned back to their normal clothes, and the beam's dark half grew stronger.

By the end of it, everybody but the girls had returned back to normal, and the beam now slowly began overpowering Dawning Dusk's beam, even after the creature tried to shoot it even harder.

This continued to the point Dawning Dusk was slightly pushed towards the portal, though the creature still managed to stand her ground-despite being on the air-and not be taken straight into the Twilight World.

That is, until a pair of pitch black and white chains came out of the portal and wrapped themselves around Dawning Dusk's body.

The creature turned around, keeping her grip on her sword, and saw the chains came from Lincoln and Lisa, who wasted no time pulling the creature up, disrupting her beam and causing her to be struck by the beam, sending her flying right through the portal, the beam stopping and morphing into a sphere before it blew up, sending waves across both dimensions.

The portal closed soon after, the humanoid immediately standing up and swinging her twilight sword on the ground, trying to open it again. All this managed to do was destroy the twilight sword into smithereens.

"It's over, Dawning Dusk."

The creature turned around and gritted her teeth as she saw the one speaking to her were Lincoln and Lisa, the former folding his arms as the latter finished:

"You're stuck in this dimension with us, and you're never getting out of here!"

A cage formed from the ground and surrounded Dawning Dusk, the creature grabbing the bars as she slowly processed what this meant, and let out a tatnic yell of fury.

* * *

As particles of light and darkness slowly fell, Girl Jordan and Lily looked around the freed city of Royal Woods, the clear skies giving everybody a sense of relief as the portal to the Twilight World closed, potentially forever as long as Lincoln and Lisa made sure nobody tried to re-open the portal from inside.

But once she looked at herself, Girl Jordan got a surprise when she saw she was no longer in her monochromatic form, or even her umbra aura form, but instead was back to wearing her normal clothes.

Not only that, but Lily had returned to being just a baby who could barely walk up to Girl Jordan before she fell.

Girl Jordan quickly grabbed and lifted the baby, sporting a relieved look. "I guess this is proof that it's over: no more aura powers, no more aged up form."

Lily nodded and smiled, right before the girls were approached by the Loud sisters and Girl Jordan's group.

"Are you okay?!" Mollie asked, walking up and checking Girl Jordan's face. "We saw you pulling a beam, and then waves happened, and suddenly everything was back to normal!"

"Not that anybody's complaining of course," Luna said, folding her arms. "After everything that's happened these past few months, everybody would be more than happy to have a normal life from now on."

"But more importantly, the beam that you did and the way you empowered it," Kat remarked, scratching her head. "How did you know you could absorb the essences of a lux and umbra aura by extending your hands towards them?"

Lily spoke some baby gibberish, and Luan promptly translated, "Lily says she was actually trying to call for Luna's help, and that the whole absorbing power thing was a coincidence."

"The good kind of coincidence," Lynn remarked, then looked at the clear skies. "Anyway, the portal was closed, and I saw Dawning Dusk going through it before the explosion. Do you think that killed her?"

"Whether it killed her or not, the portal closing down means she's not going to come back anytime soon," Girl Jordan stated as she walked to and handed Lily to Luna. "Anyway, the disaster has been averted, and I believe everybody can go home right now, yes?"

"Yeah, please, let's go home now," Lola remarked, rubbing her forehead. "It's been such a draining year..."

Girl Jordan nodded in agreement, and after sharing a look with Lily, she and her group bid farewell before the groups walked their separate ways. And as the Loud sisters walked, they noticed Leni going the opposite direction.

"Where are you going, Leni?" Lori inquired.

"I can't just go back home and face Mom and Dad after everything that's happened, and Lincoln and Lisa, as well as Tetherby and his group, are no longer here to take responsibility for what they did," Leni explained, scratching her back of her head. "So, I'm going to the police station to reveal my part in this entire madness."

Lori frowned. "So you're not coming back either?"

Leni smiled with a reassuring look. "I'll come home as soon as I've paid my debt, I promise."

With that said, the sisters continued to walk back home, followed by the rest of the former auras doing the same.

Luna lifted her head and sighed. "It's over... it really is over... the Shadows, the Eclipses, the Twilight World and Tetherby's ambition..."

"It's all been dealt with, and we can finalle rest in peace," Lucy remarked, right before she got an idea. "Hey, maybe I could write a book about what happened this year? I mean, it's so crazy I'm pretty sure somebody would eat it up."

"You're welcomed to try, but I get the feeling it wouldn't catch on," Lynn shrugged and shook her head. "That's assuming you don't go down Mom's route and take an entire decade to release a book."

"Now that you mention her, where are our parents right now?" Luan asked, taking a look around. "They just vanished after being told about the book's involvement, didn't they?"

"They're probably back home, which is more reason to head back there right now," Lori said with a hopeful smile. "So come on, let's go tell them the literally good news!"

The sisters chirped up and ran back home with excitement.

* * *

Girl Jordan and her group were cleaning their treehouse, Girl Jordan dealing with the beds, Joy the structure, Kat the decorations, and Mollie using a broom to brush the ceiling.

"It's so much harder dealing with the ceiling without using my wings," she spoke while avoiding the falling dust. "Especially when these dust particles fall down!"

"There's no point in complaining about that when there's more important stuff to talk about," Kat pointed out. "Like for example, are we really going to keep this treehouse?"

The rest of the group turned to look at Kat as she explained herself, "The reason we made the treehouse was to have a place to rest while we ran away from the lux auras."

"But since there's no more lux or umbra, or really any kind of auras, there's no point to the treehouse, right?" Joy added, scratching her head as she added, "Not to mention that without Mollie's wings, getting here is going to be even more of a pain."

Mollie promptly turned to Girl Jordan. "What do you think?"

Girl Jordan lowered her head and tapped the edges of her bed. "It would be a waste to throw all of the house away after we put some work into it. So maybe, just maybe, this could be like a secret hang-out of sorts?"

Joy raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"We keep the house, but we still live in our houses; the treehouse would only be used once in a while to hang out or just get together," Girl Jordan explained as she sat on the bed. "That way, we don't have to throw it away."

Mollie scratched her chin, then smiled. "That sounds like a good idea."

"It's worth a shot, at the very least," Kat remarked with a nod.

"Alright, Girl Jordan, we'll do your idea of this being a secret hangout," Joy said as she walked up to the girl. "Just don't get angry if not all of us can come at once, okay?"

Girl Jordan nodded. She edged closer to the window, rested her elbow on it, and as the birds chirped, she said with a smile, "It's a nice day outside, isn't it?"

* * *

Lily sat on the couch, watching a rather familiar magical girl show with a look of both confusion and concern.

"Is that the show that convinced Lincoln and Lisa to try their crazy experiment?"

Lily turned around to see Luna and Luan standing nearby, before she frowned, lowered her head and nodded.

Luna and Luan wasted no time sitting next to the baby. "To think something as simple as this gave Lincoln and Lisa the idea to do... well, what they did."

"If only they hadn't gotten the idea to do their plan, or just changed the channel, maybe they'd still be in the house," Luan took a deep breath and grabbed the control remote. "But oh well, things happened, all we can do right now is stay strong and keep going."

Lily yawned, giving Luan the signal to turn off the TV and Luna to grab the baby and stand up. "Alright, little dudette, let's take you to bed."

"I'm surprised she's already tired, though," Luan remarked as she followed Luna. "I mean, it's not even dark outside yet."

"She's been through a lot, Luan," Luna remarked, brushing Lily's tuft of hair. "I too would be exhausted if I had just come back from a way to decide the fate of Royal Woods, where I unlocked a brand new form to defeat a creature created from my and a friend's DNA, all culminating in an explosion that put everything back to normal."

"And I would be asking you to slow down so I can write that statement down on my "rarest sentences" list," Luan spoke with a giggle. "If I had a list like that, anyway."

The duo shared a laugh as they arrived at Lily's bedroom, put her on her baby crib, and toked her in as the baby closed her eyes, and entered a deep sleep...

* * *

Lily woke up in the same dream space that she did when she was first encountered by Gemini, causing the baby to worry that it was all going to start all over again.

Luckily, meeting Lincoln and Lisa in their glowing energy forms eased those concerns, while also bringing up a new one: just what did they want this time?

"Hello, Lily," Lincoln greeted as he crouched down. "I know you probably want to sleep in peace, but there's something we need to tell you before we forget."

Lily's eyes widened.

"Don't worry, Lily, it's nothing too bad," Lisa said, adjusting her celestial glasses. "We just wanted to thank you for helping us defeat Dawning Dusk, and tell you that we're not going to disappear now that it's all over: whenever you or one of our siblings are sleeping, we'll pay a visit, to check up on you."

Lincoln coughed and nudged Lisa on the shoulder. "And we also wanted to ask for your forgiveness, for causing this entire problem with the first place."

Lily frowned and lowered her head, before Lincoln brushed her hair. "You don't have to forgive us, you can take as long as you want. As you're feeling better, we'll be okay."

Lily lifted her head and smiled a little, before the duo began to vanish. "Now, we're going to go back to the Twilight World in order to keep Dawning Dusk in check."

"Goodbye, Lily, we're sorry that things had to end like this," Lisa took a deep breath. "But just remember: we love you, and we'll always protect you."

Lily nodded, and with nothing more to say, Lincoln and Lisa vanished, leaving the baby to continue on with her dreams as normal.

* * *

 _And that was the story of how I became a Lux Aura, and how Royal Woods once faced the imminent danger of Dawning Dusk, who remains caged up to this day._

 _But, that was a long time ago. Now? I have to get ready to go to school! Sure, that won't happen for a while, but I want to be sure I'm ready when it comes._

 _Thanks for hearing me out, Lily._

* * *

 **THE END.**


End file.
